Price: $1.99   Score: 9/10   By Michelle Schusterman

The appeal of a fun arcade game never fails, even if that game has a hidden educational agenda.

Warp Factor, designed by My Turn Mobile, intends to help kids practice identifying factors of numbers with a fun space theme. The problem with many educational games is that they only really nail one part; in other words, it’s a game but not so educational, or it’s educational but really just a quiz with bright colors and graphics.

Not so with Warp Factor. The educational part is clear; in order to earn points, you must understanding factoring, plain and simple. But it truly is a rather addicting game as well.

Set against a space backdrop, you control the “fuel pump” by tilting your iPhone back and forth, causing the pump to slide along the top of the screen. The pump responds well, accelerating more the steeper your angle. A number is written on the pump, and behind it you can see the other numbers in line. Tapping Drop at the bottom releases your number.

Along the bottom of the screen, various space crafts fly by waiting for fuel, each with a number. When you see a number float by that is a factor of the number in your fuel pump, line it up and tap drop to fuel the ship and send it flying off into space.

There is a fun bit of dexterity involved for kids as they tilt the phone and try to line up the drop just right. And each time they drop correctly, the equation showing that the number in their pump was indeed a factor of the ship’s number is displayed without interrupting the game. The occasional ship with a “1″ floats by – an easy score! But sometimes a blank ship will go by too, creating an obstacle if you accidentally drop any number into it.

The instructions are laid out clearly in the beginning, along with a set of helpful tips on factoring for those who are new to the concept (or perhaps have forgotten!). And the game is easy enough to manipulate for even the smallest of hands.

At $1.99, the bottom line is this is a fun and addictive game to help your child with math.

Warp Factor is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Price: $2.99    Score: 8/10    By Shaun Campbell

1 2 3 Sheep! is a great new educational game for kids from developer App-titude Learning. Set on a farm, 1 2 3 Sheep! has been designed as an intuitive and interactive way for young children to learn and understand simple counting concepts.

The game features 3 different mini-games – Helicopter, Round Up and Jump. In Helicopter, the user guides a small chopper around a large sheep pen by tilting the device from side to side. A farmer asks the player to locate groups of sheep of a certain size within the paddock – i.e find a group with 5 sheep. Once the group has been found, the player simply taps on that group to select it. It’s easy to navigate your way around and it’s a fun way for kids to practice their counting skills.

Round-up is a simpler game that involves the player guiding sheep into two different pens, according to the farmer’s instructions. For example, he’ll ask you to divide 8 stray sheep evenly between two pens – and then ask how many sheep are in each pen. It’s real simple stuff, but this kind of exercise is great reinforcement for children just learning how to count.

Jump is probably the easiest of the three games – in Jump, numbered sheep are lined up head-to-tail in a sheep pen. Your job is to guide the farm dog over the backs of the sheep according to the farmers commands. He may ask you to tap every 4th sheep, which would mean you’ll tap sheep number 4, number 8, number 12 and so on until you make it into the back of the farmer’s truck.

Each of the mini games features easy to follow instructions, cute and colorful graphics and an easily identifiable learning outcome. The difficulty ramps up with each level completed, and there are five levels for each of the three mini-games.  If you’ve got a child of your own who is just starting to learn how to use numbers – 1 2 3 Sheep! is a fun way to help improve their counting skills.

1 2 3 Sheep! requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Price: $1.99    Score: 8/10    By Shaun Campbell

Peekaboo Barn is an educational game for children from Night & Day Studios, Inc. Designed for the parents-with-preschoolers market, Peekaboo Barn is a cute little game that helps kids learn the names and sounds of farm animals in English and/or Spanish.

With charming illustrations from Divya Srinivasan, Peekaboo Barn has the look & feel of a children’s book – something kids & adults alike will love.

Peekaboo Barn is really easy to play, and simple enough for even the youngest of children. The game starts out with a short rendition of “Old Macdonald Had a Farm” and a view of a big red barn in a green field. You can hear the faint sound of a farm-yard animal calling. Open the barn-door by tapping once to reveal who is inside. A little animation of the animal follows, and it will call once more – great for helping children identify the animal with the sound. A young child will also pronounce the name of the animal, which then appears in the top-right of the screen. There are 10 animals in total, and they appear in a random order every game.

Peekaboo Barn is a fun learning tool and a great way to make learning interactive. If you have young children, or spend a lot of time with them, I’d definitely recommend it.

Peekaboo Barn requires the 2.2 software update & is compatible with both the iPhone & iPod Touch.