Recently we had an opportunity to speak with Natalia Pereldik, the co-founder at Funexpected about Funexpected Math

Please share with us the backstory of what motivated you to create this app.

My co-founder and I are both moms and we know each other for more than 20 years since the time we both went to the same math school. About two years ago we were sitting and discussing our kids' interests in puzzles and math riddles that we shared ourselves.

Many consider math to be a complicated and boring subject, but that was not how we saw it. We wanted our kids to see how interesting and diverse math can be.

When we started looking more closely into this topic and took a deep dive into scientific research on math education, we found that understanding math concepts was crucial for further abilities to learn. Literally everyone is bound to use logical thinking, spatial skills, and numeracy, regardless of what they study or do in life.

It came as a complete surprise how many people struggle with math-related subjects, there is even a term for this — "math anxiety". After getting a sense of how widespread the issue of math anxiety is and how it can affect people's lives we decided that it would be great to use our math backgrounds to create a product that can actually help people here. And that's how the idea of an application was born.

What features do you hope to roll out to your app in the future?

We want to add a whole storyline to the app. We also want to involve parents in co-use and co-playing, because it's crucial for their kids' success with learning.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of the creation of this app?

Seeing how different ideas come to life and kids all over the world are engaged and excited to learn and play. That's the most rewarding part — the fun that kids are getting! After all, it is our goal - to show that math is fun and not something to be anxious about.

What is the coolest or most innovative feature of your app?

This is a real game. We combine working game mechanics with proven mathematical ideas fron scientific research to help kids acquire new concepts as naturally as they learn to walk or talk.

What surprised you most in your journey to create this app?

The readiness of our own kids to come up with new ideas, which we implement in our app. Many funny presents inside the app were invented by 6 yo children!

Which other mobile apps or technology have inspired you?

There are so many great apps and digital products that gave us inspiration, that it is difficult to pick out. We are looking at art and animations, game mechanics and design, educational approaches and much much more. Not only in digital products. Books, offline products, travel experiences are also a great inspiration to us.

Do you have any recommendations or advice for others wanting to create a mobile app?

It's hard and you should be ready that your initial ideas will change beyond recognition. So, experiment, listen to your users and have your eyes open to inspiration - it's around you.

How did you decide which platforms to release your app on and do you plan on releasing your app to other platforms?

This was our first app and we started with iOS (we are available on iPhones/iPads). But we are planning the Android in several months.

How is your app different than the rest of the market? Which unique need does it fill?

When we speak about math for kids most people immediately think about counting and numbers. This is how the standard curriculum is set up: numeracy, counting and tests. But the approach we take in Funexpected math is much broader. We want to teach kids to think, draw conclusions, see patterns, experiment, approach the problems from different angles. So, forget about the word mathematics. We teach kids to think, to feel themselves capable of solving new problems and have fun doing this.

You can view Funexpected Math here