![]() ![]() They have an odd side benefit for me given that they taste like pudding or candy - I can fool myself that I had some dessert after dinner when I brush my teeth and feel like I have had a sweet. This brand comes in two flavors, Vanilla and Chocolate, has no foaming chemicals in them at all and most of all really tastes great. The other brand is Tasty Paste, a brand that I found only online. Tom's is a mass-market brand available in supermarkets. The two that I have tried are Tom's of Maine Kids Toothpaste in a number of their flavors, Mango Orange and Blueberry, which have less foam than other brands but still do have some foaming ingredients in them. And I found that they are really very nice to use, kid or not, and whether you have issues with regular toothpaste or not. What I found is that there is a class of kids' toothpastes that are equal to the therapeutic qualities of adult toothpaste (they clean your teeth and have fluoride) but without the issues that annoyed my son and that limited his brushing. So, I set out to find other alternatives. It turned out that he didn't like the mint flavor and mint sting and didn't like the foamy texture. ![]() I wondered why it took one of my sons so long to brush his teeth and why he spit every couple of seconds. ![]() I have a six and eight year old, and they both ran through it without many hitches. In fact, the same admonition for math - “check your work!” - is equally true with this, so it reinforces a basic discipline as well. This is the best educational game I have ever seen.įor six bucks I have my son learning algebra on his summer vacation. ![]() She then told me she was a teacher, and her current job was evaluating teaching materials! What luck! She finished the level in record time, thoroughly impressed, writing down the app name. The game has no help instructions the first dozen levels teach you the game. So, I launched Dragonbox on my tablet, handed it to her, and asked her to play the game. At six bucks I chose the “plus” version which has the 100 puzzles of the three bucks option, and an extra 100 quiz puzzles.Īfter a few weeks of trying out the app it remains amazing. I had a lady sitting next to me on the train, and on a whim I asked her if she liked math. She said something to the effect of “it’s okay” and then I asked her how her algebra was. She told me she failed it in high school. I’m not even halfway through the game - it’s primarily for the boy - but I can already anticipate that by the end, he’ll be able to solve a polynomial without really knowing “polynomial” as a word. Here’s the next best part: instead of cartoon “cards”, the games starts replacing the cartoons with actual letters and numbers. In effect, you end up finishing the first bank or level without even realizing it. It teaches you new techniques as you need them. You think you’re in the tutorial, and you are, but you are also in the game. The game immediately shows you everything you need to know, step-by-step, to play. You are given the usual start-up choices of “Play”, “Options”, “Web”, and “Quit”. Put aside “Options” (it does what you think, sound and music volumes) and “Web” (jumps to homepage), and press “Play”. The manner in which this app presents that is nothing short of genius. It takes about two seconds for you to understand that this is how basic algebra would work: simplify equations and solve for ‘x’. Given two sheets of paper (presented as left and right halves of the screen), a box (the value for which you are solving), and some cards (coefficients), remove all cards from the box side of the screen. The premise of the game is simple: it presents algebraic problems as a game. I recently downloaded this game on the basis of an article I read in Wired. Intrigued, I purchased it and installed it onto a tablet my children use (when we’re feeling generous!) My eight year old son immediately sat down and ran through the first two banks of problems without hesitation. It was amazing. ![]()
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