Meet the Numberblocks

Review by eFreeware

If you have a preschooler who already knows the Numberblocks from television, this free app is the most obvious thing to put in front of them. It comes from Blue Zoo, the studio behind Alphablocks and Numberblocks, and it does one job: introduce a child to the characters and give them something to count with their fingers.

What you get is a small, self-contained counting activity built around the Numberblobs. Each Numberblock arrives with its own set of blobs, and your child taps them one by one until the count is finished. There is no menu of subjects, no progress dashboard and no attempt to teach anything beyond that first step.

That narrowness is the point. The app is pitched as an introduction rather than a course, so a three- or four-year-old can pick it up without a parent sitting alongside them explaining what to do. The install numbers suggest plenty of families have already made that choice.

Why the characters carry this one

The appeal here rests almost entirely on the brand. These are the animators behind a BAFTA-nominated preschool series. For a parent, that is a meaningful difference: the voices, the look and the humor should match what your child already watches.

The developer leans on that pedigree openly, calling the studio multi-award-winning and pointing out that the characters have appeared on Cbeebies. That is marketing, but it is the kind of marketing that tells you what you are buying, which is a piece of familiar television repackaged as something interactive.

For a child who is already attached to the characters, that familiarity does a lot of work. A generic counting exercise asks a preschooler to care about numbers for their own sake. This one asks them to care about characters they already like, and the counting comes along for the ride.

Tapping blobs until the count is done

The core loop is as simple as it sounds. A Numberblock appears with a group of Numberblobs, and the child taps each blob to count it. The number of blobs matches the number on the block, so the activity reinforces the link between a numeral and a quantity rather than drilling the digit on its own.

Once every blob has been tapped, a video clip plays featuring the Numberblocks song. That clip is the reward, and it is a sensible one for this age group: short, musical and tied directly to finishing the task. It gives the counting a clear end point instead of leaving the child to wander.

The second interaction is on the Numberblock itself. A tap makes the character speak a catchphrase and shift shape. This is pure play rather than instruction, and it is the part most likely to get repeat taps from a child who is not yet interested in counting at all.

No ads, no purchases, nothing to unlock

The app is free, carries no advertising and has no in-app purchases. The developer states plainly that there are no involuntary adverts and nothing to buy inside it. For a parent handing a phone to a small child, that removes the two things that usually make free preschool apps difficult to trust.

This is a deliberately small app: it introduces the Numberblocks and their counting, and that is where it stops.

The content rating is Everyone, which fits what the app does. Nothing here pushes toward spending, and nothing interrupts the counting with an advertisement.

A first step, not a full curriculum

It is worth being clear about the scope. This is described as an introductory app, and the whole activity set is tapping blobs and tapping characters. A child who already counts confidently to ten will likely exhaust it quickly.

The 3.7 average across roughly 9,875 ratings suggests a mixed reception rather than universal enthusiasm, which is worth weighing if you are comparing it against other free options. I would read that as an app that does a small thing well for some families and disappoints others who expected more from the name.

The latest update is a Unity update, which suggests engine housekeeping rather than new content. If you are hoping for a growing library of activities, this does not appear to be that kind of app.

Best for preschoolers meeting numbers for the first time

The clearest fit is a child around three or four who watches the show and is starting to connect spoken numbers with actual quantities. The tapping is forgiving, the reward is immediate and the characters are already familiar, which is exactly the combination that keeps a preschooler engaged long enough to practice.

It also suits parents who want something free and uncluttered for short stretches, such as a wait at a doctor's office or the last ten minutes before dinner. Nothing needs setting up, and there is no chance of an accidental purchase.

If your child is older and already comfortable counting, the ceiling here will arrive fast. The app does not pretend otherwise, and the developer frames it as an introduction from the start.

A free, focused starting point for Numberblocks fans

Meet the Numberblocks is a small, honest app. It takes characters your child probably already loves, gives them a counting task and a song as a reward, and asks for nothing in return. With no ads and no purchases, the main risk of installing it is simply that your child outgrows it.

I would install it for a preschooler who is new to counting and already knows the show. The 3.7 rating and the limited scope mean it is best treated as a free taster of the Numberblocks world rather than a teaching tool you build a routine around.

For that specific child at that specific stage, it does the job cleanly. For anyone expecting a broader preschool math app, the ceiling will show up quickly.

What's new in version 01.07.00

Unity update