Learning through play

Playing games, building kits, memory game, card games, solving puzzles – these pleasant activities, which sometimes “kill” time, teach us new skills, train our brain, practice fast mathematics or logical reasoning. Read tips for playful cloud applications from Aliter Technologies experts. Learn how to entertain yourself with Flashcards or create your own party quiz.

Tinycards

Flashcards from Duolingo. The company operates a platform with online language courses for more than 300 million users. TinyCards includes Duolingo language courses in the form of Flashcards and an extensive database of user-created Flashcards on a variety of topics, e.g. history, art, mathematics and many more. At the start of the course, the individual Flashcards are first displayed from both sides (ie question and correct answer), then the user’s knowledge is tested by selecting from several options or directly by typing the answer. The user can also create custom Flashcards.

Advantages:

• The app, including content, is available free of charge.
• Intuitive user interface that allows Flashcards to be created quickly from your smartphone.
• An extensive database of user-created Flashcards.

Disadvantages:

• User-created Flashcards do not contain ratings, so the quality of Flashcards can only be determined by laborious testing.
• Compared to competing platforms, the app does not provide advanced user testing capabilities (e. g. quiz, matching, and more).
• Low number of Flashcards certified, only Duolingo Flashcards with the content of some foreign languages (Spanish, Portuguese, German and Swedish) are available.

Platform:

• Web
• Android
• iOS

Price: Free

 

              

 

Swift Playgrounds

The application offers a fun form of learning programming. By typing the code, you navigate a character who has to overcome various obstacles in the maze and collect gems on the way. Every new command in the code is explained first, and if you are not sure what to do, a helper will help. The application is intended not only for children, but also for adults who are just beginning to program.

Advantages:

• A fun form of learning.
• The application is nicely graphically designed.
• There are explanations of terms in the text.

Disadvantages:

• Available on iOS / iPad OS only.
• Only in English.

Platform:

• iOS/ iPad OS

Price: Free

 

Kahoot

An application for creating your own quizzes with your own questions that can be shared online. The application can be used in addition to education and other events such as. teambuilding or celebration, using a set of custom questions.

Advantages:

• Possibility to create your own quizzes.
• Use in various situations from school lesson to party.
• Entering homework through the app, saving time and making it easier to evaluate success.

Disadvantages:

• Quiz form may not suit everyone (e. g. timeout or lack of manual response)
• The overall progress of the student cannot be monitored.

Platform:

• Web
• Android
• iOS

 

Price: Basic free version, paid with 20 players from 7.20 EUR per month.

 

Elevate

The application is designed for brain training. The user improves his / her skills in areas such as speaking, reading, writing and mathematics.

Advantages:

• Innovative games in which users improve their skills in the areas.
• Progress tracking and scoring.
• Increasing the load and gradually making new games available.

Disadvantages:

• Available in English only.
• In the case of an unpaid version, the user has a limited number of games to play daily.
• Recurring games.

Platform:

• iOS
• Android

Price: Free or paid version for 45.99 EUR per year.

 

Brilliant

Educational platform focused on teaching mathematics, physics and IT through problem solving. The platform is based on the idea that effective teaching requires especially practical use, so tasks are created in an entertaining way and are always aimed at solving a problem. The user first chooses a course from a database of more than 50 available courses (eg logic, mathematics, AI, physics, etc.). The course contains tasks. The result of which, the user chooses by selecting a response from several options. The result is then displayed with a detailed explanation of the procedure for calculating the correct result.

Advantages:

• Quality and fun tasks.
• Task explanations are detailed and provide the student with enough information to understand the problem even if the task has not been completed correctly.
• Daily challenges in the form of tasks are also available, especially in the fields of mathematics and physics.

Disadvantages:

• The free version includes all courses, but with a limited number of tasks.
• The platform is suitable for skillful students who want to improve their knowledge. However, for students who have problems with subjects, tasks can be challenging.

Platform:

• Web
• Android
• iOS

The price:

• Monthly $ 17.49
• Annually $ 7
• Lifetime license $ 449.99

BrainScape

BrainScape is another platform in the field of Flashcards learning. Compared to competing solutions, Brainscape is developed based on a cognitive technique called “Self-confidence-based repetition”. The user responds to individual Flashcards in the form of a rating ranging from 1 (no answer) to 5 (perfect answer). Subsequently, the BrainScape algorithm selects the Flashcards repetition rate according to the given rating, the lower the more often the Flashcard is repeated. BrainScape declares that in this way the learning efficiency is twice as high as that of conventional Flashcards.

Advantages:

• Unique learning algorithm.
• Extensive database of certified courses.
• More than 1 million Flashcards created by the user community.

Disadvantages:

• The free version contains limited functionality and content.
• Missing Slovak localization.

 

Platform:

• Web
• Android
• iOS

 

The price:

• Monthly: $ 9.99
• Semester (6 months): $ 41.94
• Annually: $ 59.88
• Lifetime license 129.99

 

Tynker

Online tutorial programming for children from preschool to high school for over 60 million children worldwide. For children over 4 years of age, tasks are provided to solve logical problems or create your own applications using drag & drop commands. Gradually, more demanding tasks are being added and for high school students, the lessons are focused on the basics of programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, HTML, CSS and others. When registering, a parent / teacher account is first created and has access to an easy-to-read portal through which they can control the access of children / students and their curriculum.

Other applications such as CodaKid and Kodable, focusing on similar functionalities, are also in available.

Advantages:

• More than 39 courses with over 3700 training modules. Simpler courses include block-based programming, and more demanding text-based commands.
• Minecraft, Star Wars, Barbie and more activities are also available. Minecraft integration is also available, allowing the development of custom modifications that can be run on a private server.
• Individual courses include an introductory video providing a description of the concept as well as an animation of the resulting app.

Disadvantages:

• Missing localization in Slovak.
• There is no online support for paid versions.
• Free version does not allow testing of training courses.

Platform: Web, Android, iOS

Price: For individual plans, the price is $ 60 quarterly, $ 120 per year and $ 240 lifetime license. For a family plan (i.e., up to 4 users), the price is $ 30 quarterly, $ 180 per year, and $ 360 a lifetime license.