AD – This post is in collaboration with MentalUP
Have you heard of MentalUP before? If you haven’t and you are now entering your thirteenth week of home schooling; trust me when I say you will be thankful that you have.
As lockdown stats to ease around the country, children in some year groups are returning to their schools and nurseries; however for the majority; the prospect of the same amount of time at home AGAIN lies in front of us. With many children not going back until September; it’s a pretty daunting prospect for parents and children alike!
By now; the carefully constructed schedules for home schooling have gone out the window and what little enthusiasm and patience you may have began with has started to wane. Trying to encourage your children to do anything remotely educational can feel like a chore; and as a result, I have been looking for alternatives to traditional educational resources sent from school and options that offer a far more subtle learning experience – something that is likely to be met with far less resistance from my child!
I recently discovered MentalUP, an app packed full of brain training games for children aged between 4 and 13 years of age available on the App Store or Google Play. With over 120 educational games to choose from, just 20 minutes of playing MentalUP daily can help improve your child’s memory, attention and concentration, analytical thinking, logic and problem solving skills to name but a few.
With a HUGE reduction of 30% off their premium subscription whilst the schools are at home (making it just £20 for 12 months access) we decided to put MentalUP through its paces with Erin to see if it could make a fun yet educational addition to our home schooling experience.
About MentalUP brain training app
MentalUP is an award winning child safe and ad free app, which has been rated 4.8 across the Google Play and App stores and has over 5 million users worldwide. Following an academic approach to learning, MentalUP games are both entertaining and scientific and personalised based on your child’s age and performance. When you first download the app you are asked to enter details about your child’s age and level of education; from which the starting difficulty level of the game is established.
MentalUP features a bright and colourful world with a map of games to follow. As each game is completed, your child’s character progresses along the map; earning star ratings as they go (out of a possible 3 stars).
Each game comes with a short set of instructions that are very clear and easy to follow (although some of these are audible only so you do need to have the sound on). Erin could read, absorb and understand the instructions herself; very quickly understanding what she needed to do and being able to navigate the screen to complete the task. The navigation of MentalUP is very user friendly and intuitive, so at no point did I have to stop and explain to Erin what it was she had been asked to do. It is probably worth mentioning here that MentalUP is a global app; and therefore some of the spellings are American rather than UK English; however this didn’t pose any problems for Erin; and didn’t affect game play at all.
Erin, who has just turned 7, didn’t really register that MentalUP was learning as it very much felt like play. The games she experienced during our review were fun and varied; with the start of each game briefly telling you what areas of brain training they were focusing on. The app addresses five main skills: Attention; Memory, Problem Solving (Logic), Visual and Verbal, as well as sub-skills including counting and geometry.
At the start of each game MentalUP told Erin what the average score was for other users of that game so she could see how her age group were performing, as well as the best score. Erin could then aim to beat her previous score or the average; something which kept her engaged and keen to play on.
Once she had completed each game, MentalUP gave her a star rating (out of three) and she absolutely loved celebrating if she had beaten the average or top score; giving her a real sense of achievement and pride.
The variety of games we experienced was really positive and Erin was fully engaged throughout. I was pleased to see some Maths and English elements incorporated into the games such as telling the time and addition / subtraction; two areas which she has struggled previously. It was lovely to see that MentalUP allowed her to practice these skills in a very subtle way!
Personalising the MentalUP avatar
Another element of MentalUP that Erin really enjoyed was the ability to personalise her very own MentalUP avatar. The app comes with their very own monster like character which you can tailor in terms of colour, hairstyle, clothing and accessories and as Erin played, she was able to earn rewards in terms of additional items. After completing a MentalUP map, she was given a treasure chest to open; with a surprise item inside to add to her characters’ wardrobe; such as a bow tie or special hat.
She could then scroll through the options and change her characters’ appearance. Some items have a padlock, meaning they need to be unlocked before they can be used.
There are NO in app purchases within MentalUP! which is very reassuring for us parents, as there is no risk of them accidentally downloading something or spending any real cash. Instead, Erin was able to earn MentalUP coins as she played each game, which can then be traded in to buy items and accessories in the ‘store’.
Free or Premium MentalUP?
The free version of MentalUP comes with 20 different brain training games; which is a great way to introduce children to the app and get some insight into the how the app works.
The premium version however comes with much more variety – a massive 120 different games to play; as well as the added benefit of reporting for parents so you can track how your child is doing.
As well as monthly development and attendance reports (showing how often they’ve played and their progress throughout), these reports also include percentiles (showing where they sit against their age group peers) and strengths / areas for improvement, so you can see any particular topics where your child may be struggling. You can then choose games specifically in that area if you want to focus their attention to a particular topic.
I think the premium version of MentalUP is excellent value for money, particularly with the 30% discount; as this works out at less than £2 a month.
For me, MentalUP offers an engaging and educational activity that can easily fit into our day and around my work commitments and calls during the day. If I have an important call to make; rather than her sitting watching tv or on YouTube, MentalUp offers her some positive learning and fun whilst providing me with some quiet and calm!
MentalUP has been a big hit with Erin; and something I am confident she will continue to play going forwards. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is looking for a more fun way to engage their children in the latter stages of lockdown.
Where do I sign up to MentalUP?
You can learn more about MentalUP here; or download at the App Store or Google Play.
*Disclosure – we were gifted an annual subscription to MentalUP and compensated for our time but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own*
