Maths games for Class 1 and Class 2 (free, no app needed)
If you have a child in Class 1 or Class 2, the maths syllabus is more compact than most parents remember.
Class 1 in CBSE and ICSE is mostly: numbers up to 100, addition and subtraction within 20, basic shapes, comparing quantities, simple measurement, telling time to the hour. That is it. Class 2 adds: addition and subtraction up to 100 with regrouping (carrying), the multiplication tables of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10, fractions as halves and quarters, money in rupee notes and coins, length in cm and m.
The trap that catches many parents is treating Class 1 and Class 2 maths as if it were a race to fluency in operations the child has not yet learnt. A six-year-old practising long addition with carrying is a six-year-old being pulled ahead of where their school is. That gets in the way more than it helps.
What helps is steady practice in exactly the operations the child is currently learning, with feedback they can read and a low cost of getting things wrong. Two games on epotli match this well. We use both at home with a Class 1 child and a Class 2 child.
Math Pop, sized to your child's class
Math Pop has three difficulty modes that map almost exactly to the early-school curriculum.
- Easy is addition and subtraction within 10. This is Class 1 territory for most of the year. A child who has just started Class 1 should play here.
- Medium is addition and subtraction within 20, with single-digit multiplication mixed in occasionally. This is the stretch zone for late Class 1 and most of Class 2.
- Hard mixes operations including multiplication tables. This is for Class 2 children who are fluent on Medium.
Each round is 12 questions in Casual mode, or a 60-second sprint in Timed mode. The Casual mode is the one to use for daily practice. Timed mode is for once-in-a-while motivation, not daily diet.
What Math Pop does that a worksheet does not: it makes 12 sums feel like one play session. A child does the questions in roughly 90 seconds because each one is a tap, not a write. The same child would balk at writing 12 sums on paper.
The signal to switch difficulty is precise. If your child finishes Easy in under 2 minutes with all correct, they are ready for Medium. That gap between comfort and stretch is where the practice happens.
MathBird, the persistent-level companion
MathBird is the only game on epotli with adaptive difficulty. Level 1-2 is addition only, with operands suited to a Class 1 child. Level 3-4 adds subtraction. Level 5+ unlocks single-digit multiplication.
Two things make MathBird different from Math Pop:
The level persists between sessions. A child who plays five minutes a day sees their level number go up over a fortnight. That long-term continuity is appropriate for a Class 1 or Class 2 child who can now hold a goal across a week.
Levelling up requires 60% accuracy on the round. This is a low bar on purpose. A child who is shaky on the level still plays the next round; they just stay where they are. The system never tells them they failed. They simply keep practising until the round goes well.
For a Class 2 child working on multiplication tables, MathBird at level 5 is a useful daily anchor. The questions cycle through different products, the child gets fast on the small ones first (2x, 5x, 10x), and the harder tables show up gradually as they progress.
A small caveat. The streak bonus rewards speed, and a child who is racing through to keep the streak can end a session with a higher score and lower accuracy than they had a week ago. If you notice the level going up while the questions are getting more wrong, slow them down. Suggest they read the equation aloud before tapping.
What about a worksheet?
Worksheets are not bad. They are a different tool for a different purpose. A worksheet is good for a child who needs to slow down and write out the working — the act of writing 14 + 7 = 21 in a notebook builds different motor and visual memory than tapping a bubble.
Our recommendation: worksheets at school, games at home. The school assigns the writing practice. You provide the speed-and-recognition practice that goes with it. They reinforce each other; neither is enough on its own.
A Class 1 weekly rhythm
- Three or four short Math Pop rounds per week, all on Easy.
- One or two MathBird sessions, level 1 or 2.
- Total screen time: about 8 to 10 minutes per day.
If your child wants more, let them. If they want less on a given day, let them. The rhythm is more important than any single session.
A Class 2 weekly rhythm
- Two Math Pop rounds on Medium, plus one on Hard once a week as a stretch.
- Two or three MathBird sessions; expect the level to rise over a month.
- Two minutes of mental maths conversation in the car or while cooking. "What is 3 sevens?" "What is half of 24?" These count.
For more on how the games are designed and what age range each one suits, the parents page lays it out per game.
What to skip
Apps that promise to "teach the entire Class 1 and Class 2 curriculum" in one product. Curriculum coverage is the school's job. Your job at home is to give the kid daily reps in the operations they are already learning, in a form they will actually open. Two browser games that take five minutes are more useful than a single app that takes 30 minutes and gets opened twice a month.