Teaching Mathematics can be fun with Sumdog. It’s a website that offers free games for students. Parents and teachers can register with Sumdog to keep a track of their ward’s scoring. It offers simple mathematical problems based on addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication with various games.
Kids gets rewarded (depending on the game) for answering them correctly. It also offers multiplayer games, where other kids compete with you. The sense of competition and earning rewards encourage kids to solve problems faster.
Another good thing about this website is that for most of the games I didn’t have to wait for other players to join. It wasn’t the case that there were too many players; but the rule for most games is that game starts and other players could join in later. “Not waiting” is a great feeling. Isn’t it?
If your kids are very young, then you can try this math website that teaches math with cartoons.
How To Play and Learn With Sumdog
Follow the link given at the end of this review to reach the homepage of Sumdog. Games are for students but the sign up has to be done by a parent or by teacher. Registration is absolutely free.
The website provides three modes to access the website:
- Guest User: You can browse the website as a guest, without even a need to sign-up. You will be able to access only couple of free games, but it will give you an idea of utility of this website.
- Free User: Once you like this website, you can create a free account. As I mentioned earlier, the account has to be created by a parent or a teacher (though, the website does not actually validate that the account is being created by a parent; or is the kid creating the account himself). Once you have created an account, you will be able to access even more free games.
- Paid User: The website also has paid plans, which let you access all parts of the website and even more games. You can even create activities.
I have tested this website as a free user. Free games were good enough to make me feel jealous that I didn’t have such amenities to learn from during my school days.
If you are signing up as a teacher, you would have to register your school and then create student accounts. To create student accounts, you can either enter their first name, last name and class of each student, or you can upload spreadsheet having these details. Now, you’ll get the password and username for students. Their gaming will be analyzed and weekly reports will be prepared.
Parents sign up is little easier. You just need to enter details of your child.
Parents can receive the weekly reports on their email. While, teachers can access the website and get the report anytime.
What Sumdog Offers
For Students
Sumdog allows you to practice maths with online games and has various types of games for you, like: Athletics, Sports, Combat, etc. So, go for what interests you. All games ask for simple calculation problems with four options. Choose the correct answer before time runs out and earn points. Faster you answer, more you score, and better will be the chances of winning against your competitors.
Each correct answer gives you coins as well. Sumdog also lets you create your avatar. And the coins help you in modifying avatar.
For Teachers and Parents
You can play games to decide which game is more suitable for your ward. You also get the reports of their performance in a well arranged statistical manner. Reports can be seen for specific days, weeks, or months for different classes and levels.
With these reports, you can check out how your students / kids are performing. With free version, one teacher can get maximum of 10 reports of any class. That’s a serious limitation.
For teachers there is an option for live class as well. Unfortunately, that didn’t work for me.
Limitations of Sumdog
- Some of the games are too good. Hence, they can quickly become addictive and you might find your kids wasting lot of time with those.
- Games have not been divided into levels, so even if you start becoming good at a particular game, you cannot try its more difficult version.
- You do not have choice over players in multiplayer games. Participants could be anyone from the globe. I would personally prefer to compete with my friends or my classmates, but I wasn’t able to find an option for that.
Also check out other Math learning websites we reviewed earlier.
Final verdict
This online gaming portal is certainly a good option to create interest and practice Maths with online games. It offers a platform for solving problems in an interesting manner.
I really wish Sumdog can offer levels within games, so that students can move on to more difficult levels, once they have mastered the easy ones.
The risk of addiction with online gaming is always there for young kids. Sumdog can control it, as teachers and parents get reports about how their students are using this website.
I personally find this website remarkable. If your student / kid’s hatred for maths is driving you crazy, then Sumdog deserves a definite trial.
Go to Sumdog.
