This is a sponsored post.
UMIGO– short for “You Make It Go”, is a free math website that uses the world of adventure to engage early elementary children in playfully learning basic math concepts. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready to Learn grant and aligned with Common Core Mathematics Standards for first and second grade, this free platform provides a vibrant world of transmedia experiences that will have your child engaged and having fun!
Meet UMIGO
UMIGO is a series of interactive “Appisodes” centered around three best friends Bean, Bit, and Dizzy. Together they save the day from Mummies, Pirates, Spies and MORE! These fun adventures help children develop the math skills that they need for effective reasoning and problem solving through the kid-powered transmedia experiences.
What Does Transmedia Mean?
Within the world of UMIGO they use several different media platforms to engage children. This helps reinforce those basic math concepts your child is learning. So what types of media do they use within each appisode?
- An Animated Story: Each Appisode features a hilarious adventure that is gender-neutral and interactive.
- A Music Video: Ever have a catchy tune get stuck in your head? Music is a great way to reinforce learning as it makes concepts easier to remember. Each level comes with a fun and catchy music video built around the math concepts of that adventure.
- The End Game: Every adventure uses differentiated learning levels to personalize the learning to the individual needs of the child playing the game. This helps ensure that your child is playing and learning concepts that are at the level they are ready to be learning.
UMIGO was developed out of research about how kids learn while using media. When there is more than one element at play children retain information learned better. Plus it’s a ton of fun!
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As the narrative unfolds within the appisodes, children become active participants, applying new math concepts and skills to the games and activities included.
There are also free, downloadable UMIGO activities that are designed to engage children as well as parents and educators, making learning a shared, enriching experience.
Our Thoughts on UMIGO:
We really loved the appisodes, game, and music videos. They are vibrant, catchy, and just overall fun. My kids really enjoyed the characters and the graphics.
At the start of each game though there is not a section that evaluates your child’s math skills. This means that you may start off with concepts that are too easy or too difficult until your child gets into the game.
The games also use a system that children could very easily cheat their way through. The first time a child answers a question wrong, all the answers light up. The second time a child answers wrong, the right answer lights up. While this could be very helpful to some children. Since the music videos serve as a reward for doing the hardwork throughout the appisode, this could also prove to be problematic.
Overall though, this is a fabulous free resource that my family had a blast with! My girls have asked to play it every day during their tech time…which to me says it is pretty awesome.
This post is made possible by support from UMIGO. All opinions are my own. Images courtesy of UMIGO.