Growing Minds Science
Number Path
Reading together, but numbers. A ten-minute check-in places your child on the counting ladder, then hands you a week of playful, evidence-backed games.
Ten minutes. A bowl. A bear.
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How it works
1 · Play the check-in
Ten minutes at the kitchen table with a bowl, ten blocks, and any stuffed animal. You read short scripted lines — “Can you feed the bear three?” — and tap what happened. The app adjusts each question to the last answer, so it never drags.
2 · See the ladder
Your child lands on a rung of the counting ladder — the sequence every child climbs between reciting number words and knowing what they mean. You'll see the rung in plain words, and what usually comes next.
3 · Play the week
Three household games and a daily ten-second number-talk prompt, matched to that exact rung. A fresh set arrives every Monday, and every six weeks you re-run the check-in and watch the ladder move.
What the counting ladder is
Somewhere between two and five, every child makes the same climb. First the number words are a song. Then “one” snaps onto meaning — hand a one-knower one block and they’re right every time, ask for three and you get a fistful. Then “two” clicks. Then “three,” then “four” — and then the big discovery: counting itself tells you how many, for any number. Developmental scientists have mapped this staircase for over thirty years using a deceptively simple game called Give-N — “can you give me three?”
The Feed-the-Bear check-in is that same game, scripted for your kitchen. The question engine behind it adjusts to each answer and was tested against tens of thousands of simulated children before it was allowed near a real one — tuned so that on a noisy day, its rare misses land a rung low, never high. A rung too low means a bored week. A rung too high means a frustrated two-year-old. We chose bored.
Why the rung changes everything
A child who’s just cracked “two” needs completely different number talk than one who counts every stuffed animal in the house. In a randomized trial of parent number talk, which numbers helped depended on where the child stood — small numbers for most, bigger ones once a child was further along the climb. Generic counting apps send every family the same drills. Number Path routes every game and every prompt to the rung your child is actually on, and re-routes as they climb.
Nervous about math yourself? You’re the parent we wrote every script for. Each game is spelled out word for word — what to grab, what to say, when to stop. Structured moments like that are how research suggests math-anxious parents share numbers warmly, without passing the nerves along.
Honest by construction
What we deliberately left out
We don’t sell brain-training or flash-card drills, and we don’t train the “number sense” some apps promise. The evidence that it transfers to real math is genuinely contested, so we won't charge you for it. Number Path only does what the research actually supports: everyday counting, together.
No red flags, ever
Number Path never compares your child to other children, and the words it will never use are enforced by a mechanical check on every line of content — not an editor’s good intentions. Every rung is a real stage of a climb every child makes; the readout tells you where the climb is, and what makes a good next week.
Every claim above has a citation behind it. Read the evidence table →
One price, no subscription
Free
The full Feed-the-Bear check-in, your child’s place on the ladder, one matched game, and a number-talk prompt.
The whole thing · $34 once
Every game matched to the exact rung, a fresh prompt every day, re-check-ins as they climb, and the printable pack. Yours for good.
Start the free check-inQuestions parents ask
What ages is this for?
Roughly 2 to 5 — from first number words to counting any pile. Under about 30 months the check-in automatically switches to Point and Seek, a two-minute watching game with no asking at all.
What if the game falls apart halfway?
That's toddlers. Pause any time and pick up where you left off within two days. Off days get a gentler read, never a scary one — and a fresh bear usually fixes everything.
Do I need to be good at math?
No — that's the point. Every line you say is written out for you, word for word. Research on parent-child math suggests structured, low-pressure moments like these are exactly how families who feel shaky about math build a warm number habit anyway.
What do I get free?
The whole check-in and your child's ladder placement, free. One payment of $34 unlocks every game, a fresh prompt daily, re-check-ins as they climb, and the printable pack — yours for good, no subscription.
This is an enrichment tool, not a medical or developmental screening. For questions about your child's development, talk with your pediatrician.