How to Build a Math Learning App Like DoodleMaths

Many children don’t struggle with math because they lack ability, but because the subject can feel intimidating or disconnected from real life. Parents are looking for tools that make math friendly, fun, and tailored to their child’s pace. That’s why apps like DoodleMaths are so valuable, as they turn practice into play and help kids build confidence through small, achievable steps.

These apps use adaptive learning engines, interactive exercises, instant feedback, and gamified rewards to keep kids motivated. Behind the scenes, smart algorithms track progress, adjust difficulty, and personalize lessons to strengthen core skills. With kid-friendly visuals, offline access, and a safe learning space, the whole experience feels less like homework and more like a guided journey.

In this blog, we’ll explore how to build a math learning app like DoodleMaths by covering the key features, tech stack, and design principles. With IdeaUsher’s experience in building and launching successful apps for enterprises, we can help create an engaging, personalized learning experience for kids.

What is a Math Learning App, DoodleMaths?

DoodleMaths is a maths-learning app designed for children aged approximately 4 to 14. It creates a personalised learning programme by identifying each child’s strengths and weaknesses, ensuring that every learner progresses at a pace suited to their individual needs.

Beyond personalisation, the app aligns with major curriculum stages (such as EYFS, KS1, KS2, and KS3) and covers a wide range of maths topics, from basic operations to geometry and fractions. It can be accessed on smartphones, tablets, and laptops, with partial offline support to make learning more flexible. As part of the wider DoodleLearning suite, it also integrates with companion apps like DoodleTables and provides dashboards for parents and teachers to monitor progress.

• Designed to support consistent, daily maths practice.
• Helps build confidence by breaking concepts into smaller, manageable steps.
• Encourages children to engage with maths in a fun and approachable way.
• Complements school learning without replacing traditional teaching.
• Aims to make maths feel less intimidating by presenting concepts in a simple, child-friendly format.
• Promotes steady progress through regular exposure rather than high-pressure learning sessions.

Business Model

DoodleMaths operates on a scalable edtech business model designed to serve both individual learners and educational institutions.

• Dual Audience Approach (B2C + B2B): The app targets families through direct subscriptions and partners with schools through institutional licensing, creating two strong revenue channels.
• Freemium to Paid Conversion: Users typically begin with a free trial that introduces the core experience before upgrading to a paid subscription for full access to personalised learning features.
• Curriculum-Aligned Learning Ecosystem: By offering multiple subject-based apps (Maths, Tables, English, Spell), DoodleLearning creates an integrated learning environment that encourages cross-product usage.
• Subscription-Driven Value Proposition: The platform emphasises consistent learning, adaptive pathways, and measurable progress elements that justify recurring subscription pricing.
• Support and Implementation Services for Schools: Schools receive onboarding, training, and data insights, strengthening long-term partnerships and reducing churn.
• Continuous Content Updates: Ongoing curriculum updates, new activities, and improved adaptive logic help retain users and maintain subscription value over time.

Revenue Model

DoodleMaths generates revenue through a blended subscription-based model that serves both families and schools.

• Family Subscription Plans (B2C Revenue): Parents can choose between Single Child or Family plans, with pricing set at £7.99/month or £69.99/year for one child, and £12.99/month or £119.99/year for 2–6 children, covering full access to DoodleMaths and DoodleTables.
• School Licensing Model (B2B Revenue): Schools adopt DoodleMaths through annual licences priced at £6 per pupil per year, enabling class-wide access, teacher dashboards, and learning analytics.
• Multi-App Bundling Across Subjects: DoodleLearning offers Maths, Tables, English, and Spell as interconnected products, increasing the average revenue per user through bundled subscriptions.
• Recurring Subscription Renewals: The platform relies on monthly and annual renewals, supported by continuous updates and ongoing curriculum alignment to maintain strong retention.
• Free Trial Conversion Pipeline: A free trial introduces new users to the adaptive learning experience, converting a portion of them into paying subscribers and contributing to predictable revenue growth.
• Institutional Upselling Opportunities: Partnerships with multi-academy trusts, district-wide implementations, and large school groups allow DoodleMaths to scale revenue through higher-volume contracts.

How DoodleMaths Works?

DoodleMaths follows a structured, adaptive learning process designed to personalise every child’s maths journey. The app continually adjusts to the learner’s needs, ensuring steady progress through engaging, curriculum-aligned activities.

1. Baseline Assessment

When a child starts DoodleMaths, the app conducts a brief assessment to gauge their abilities. This helps identify strengths, gaps, and misconceptions, allowing the system to choose the best starting point for effective learning.

2. Personalised Learning Programme

Based on assessment results, DoodleMaths creates a tailored learning plan with its adaptive algorithm (called Proxima™). It focuses on revisiting weak areas, reinforcing skills, and gradually adding new topics aligned with the child’s curriculum.

3. Short & Daily Practice Sessions

DoodleMaths follows a microlearning approach, encouraging children to complete short daily sessions instead of long lessons. This “little and often” method builds consistency, reduces overwhelm, and improves retention over time.

4. Interactive Concept Explanations

When a new topic is introduced, the app offers structured explanations with visuals and step-by-step guidance. Children move through phases like recap, discovery, and application, ensuring full understanding before independent practice.

5. Adaptive Questioning

As children answer questions, DoodleMaths analyzes performance in real time, adjusting difficulty, revisiting concepts, and advancing learners when ready. This adaptive process ensures each child progresses at the right pace.

6. Gamification & Rewards

To boost engagement, DoodleMaths incorporates badges, stars, streaks, and virtual collectibles. These gamified elements motivate regular practice and create a positive attitude toward maths.

7. Parent & Teacher Dashboards

Families and educators can track progress through intuitive dashboards that display topic mastery, strengths, areas needing improvement, and activity patterns. These insights help adults support the child’s learning journey with actionable information.

8. Curriculum Alignment

DoodleMaths aligns with major curricula, ensuring children learn the same topics as school. It reinforces previous content, fills learning gaps, and strengthens foundations before new skills.

9. Mastery & Skill Development

As learners practice regularly, DoodleMaths supports deeper understanding and confidence in maths. Its adaptive cycle leads to continuous improvement, resulting in mastery and measurable outcomes.

Importance of Adaptive Learning Models In Math Learning Apps

Adaptive learning models have become the foundation of modern math learning apps. They help deliver personalized experiences that adjust to each child’s pace, ability, and learning gaps, making the app far more effective and engaging than traditional one-size-fits-all systems.

1. Personalized Learning Paths

Adaptive models assess a learner’s performance in real time, adjusting question difficulty, topic order, and goals to match their skill level, supporting ongoing improvement without overwhelming them.

2. Strengths & Weakness Identification

By analyzing accuracy, response time, and error patterns, adaptive systems quickly identify where a learner excels or struggles. This enables the app to deliver targeted practice, fill gaps, and accelerate mastery, crucial for math success.

3. Engagement Through Just-Right Challenges

Children stay motivated when tasks are balanced, neither too easy nor too hard. Adaptive models maintain this balance, keeping learners in an optimal challenge zone. This boosts engagement, usage, and long-term subscription retention for app owners.

4. Data-Driven Learning Outcomes

Adaptive algorithms continuously collect data to refine lesson pathways based on learner behavior, enhancing concept reinforcement, knowledge retention, and math proficiency across ages.

5. Scalable for Multi-Grade Apps

Math apps should support learners at various grades and curricula. Adaptive models enable a single app to serve multiple levels by adjusting to a learner’s skill, making it scalable globally and for educational partnerships.

How 92% Positive Outcomes Validate the Demand for Math Learning Apps?

The Math Learning Apps for Kids Market reached USD 520.29 million in 2024 and will grow to USD 909.44 million by 2032 at a steady 7.22 percent CAGR, showing strong and sustained interest from parents, educators, and institutions.

A global systematic review covering 23,981 children across 18 countries found that 92 percent of studies reported positive outcomes from math learning apps. This widespread success across different regions confirms that digital maths solutions have become a trusted, evidence-backed learning method worldwide.

A. Math Learning Apps Deliver Strong Academic Gains

Children not only enjoy maths apps but consistently perform better when using them, making this category highly reliable for founders entering the edtech market.

• UK RCT (389 children, ages 4–5): Students using a math app achieved an effect size of 0.31, equal to roughly three to four months of additional progress. This shows early learners benefit significantly from structured app-based numeracy.
• Elementary school study: Just 20 to 90 minutes of app usage led to an 18 to 35 percent increase in overall maths performance. Short sessions can drive big improvements, validating the microlearning model used by apps like DoodleMaths.
• High-impact intervention: Some global trials reported effect sizes as high as 0.82, highlighting strong conceptual learning gains. High effect sizes indicate deep learning, not just practice repetition.

B. Math Apps Improving Learning Outcomes 

Math learning apps close gaps faster, making them attractive for schools, districts, and government-led education programs.

• USA RCT (758 low-income preschoolers): Children using maths apps showed a 0.20 SD improvement, equivalent to a four-point gain in national percentile rank within six months. This proves digital maths tools are valuable even where resources are limited.
• Attention and cognitive improvement: Studies report gains of d = 0.72 to 0.84 in visual attention among children using math apps. Math apps strengthen cognitive abilities that influence lifelong learning.

These research-backed outcomes show one clear trend: math learning apps consistently deliver measurable academic benefits, making them a strong and future-ready category for founders and businesses wanting to launch a platform like DoodleMaths. With proven learning gains, growing market demand, and global acceptance, this is an ideal time to invest in building a high-quality maths learning app.

Designing Curriculum and Learning Pathways for Different Age Groups

When developing a math app for children, it’s essential to create age-appropriate learning paths. Different age groups have varying cognitive abilities, skills, and standards, so your app must provide content suited to those stages and support adaptive progress.

1. Early Years (Ages 4–7)

At this stage, children require simple, visual, and highly engaging activities that introduce core mathematical ideas. Your curriculum should focus on strengthening their basic understanding and helping them develop confidence in working with numbers.

• Number recognition, counting, early addition and subtraction
• Visual learning tools like manipulatives, shapes, and picture-based problems
• Short, game-like sessions to match early attention spans
• Activities that build spatial awareness and early pattern recognition
• Frequent positive reinforcement to boost confidence and reduce math anxiety
• Year-based content aligned with early years frameworks (EYFS, Kindergarten, Grade 1)

2. Lower Primary (Ages 7–10)

Children in this range transition from basic numeracy to deeper conceptual understanding. Your curriculum should introduce more structured topics while still supporting learners with clear explanations and scaffolded learning experiences.

• Core arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication
• Number relationships, place value, fractions, measurement, and basic geometry
• Step-by-step conceptual explanations that build from concrete to abstract
• Adaptive progression that moves students ahead when they master concepts
• Skill checkpoints and mastery indicators to track learner progress
• Alignment with grade-level expectations such as KS1, KS2 or Common Core Grades 2–5

3. Upper Primary & Lower Secondary (Ages 10–14)

Older learners engage with more complex math concepts that require reasoning, application, and multi-step strategies. Your learning pathways should support both remedial learners and those ready to tackle advanced content.

• Ratios, negative numbers, early algebra, data interpretation, and multi-step problem solving
• Higher-level geometry topics like angles, transformations, and coordinate grids
• Branching pathways that allow learners to revisit foundational topics or accelerate ahead
• Real-world math scenarios to build reasoning and application skills
• Adaptive question difficulty that adjusts to performance patterns
• Coverage aligned with curriculum standards such as KS3 or middle school Common Core

4. Cross-Age Flexibility

A successful math learning app must accommodate diverse learners, multiple grade levels, and different international curricula. Building flexibility into your learning pathways ensures your product is scalable and suitable for global users.

• A multi-level curriculum map that spans early years through lower secondary
• Diagnostic assessments to place each learner at the correct starting level
• Vertical progression (moving between years) and horizontal progression (exploring topics within the same level)
• Content structured to support localization for UK, US, or international standards
• Dashboards for parents and educators to track progress across multiple years
• Built-in review cycles that reinforce past learning before introducing new topic

Key Features of a Math Learning App Like DoodleMaths

A successful maths-learning app does more than deliver practice questions; it creates an experience that supports steady, confident learning. The features below highlight what makes tools like DoodleMaths effective, engaging, and genuinely supportive for children.

1. Adaptive & Personalized Learning

Modern maths apps like DoodleMaths use adaptive algorithms to tailor learning. Instead of fixed exercises, the app analyzes performance, finds gaps, and adjusts difficulty. This personalized method helps learners progress at the right pace, building confidence through steady improvement.

2. Curriculum-Based Maths Content

A strong math platform aligns lessons with recognized curriculum frameworks, ensuring students practice skills they learn at school. This structure supports progression in topics like number operations, fractions, geometry, measurement, and word problems. By matching school standards, the app makes home learning consistent, relevant, and easier for children.

3. Short & Daily Practices

Apps like DoodleMaths excel by promoting short, regular practice sessions, which boost retention. Instead of long lessons, they encourage a “little-and-often” routine. A few minutes daily keeps children engaged, prevents burnout, and builds long-term maths fluency in a child-friendly way.

4. Interactive & Visual Activities

These apps simplify difficult maths ideas with visual models, interactive tools, and digital manipulatives. Children drag objects, explore number lines, compare shapes, and work with visual fractions, making abstract concepts hands-on. This supports visual learners and makes maths more accessible.

5. Real-Time Feedback & Progress

Immediate feedback is vital in digital learning. Apps like DoodleMaths highlight mistakes and offer corrections, helping children understand concepts immediately. Progress reports give parents and teachers clear insights into strengths and challenges. This data-driven approach lets adults support better without extra effort.

6. Gamified Motivation Rewards

Gamification boosts children’s learning apps with badges, streaks, goals, and rewards, making learning motivating. It encourages practice and fosters a positive attitude toward maths. Child-friendly graphics and interactions make it educational and fun.

7. Multi-Device & Offline Access

A versatile maths app should work smoothly on smartphones, tablets, and laptops. It should offer offline or partial online access so children can practise without the internet. This makes it ideal for home, travel, and places with unstable internet.

How to Build a Math Learning App Like DoodleMaths

Creating a math learning app like DoodleMaths requires a thoughtful blend of educational expertise and intuitive digital design. At every stage, we focus on building an experience that is engaging, effective, and aligned with the way children naturally learn.

1. Consultation

Our development process begins with understanding who we’re building the app for and what specific learning outcomes we aim to achieve. By analysing age-wise cognitive abilities and curriculum expectations, we design a structured roadmap that ensures children receive meaningful, level-appropriate maths practice.

2. Plan Core Features & Learning Modules

Once the objectives are clear, our team outlines the essential features and breaks the curriculum into organised, digestible learning modules. We map out how personalised learning, interactive tasks, and short practice sessions will come together to create a smooth and cohesive learning flow. Proper planning at this stage sets the foundation for an effective educational experience.

3. Kid-Friendly UI/UX Design 

Our designers create a child-friendly interface that is colourful, welcoming, and easy to navigate. Every screen is crafted to support learning, using clear icons, intuitive layouts, and interactive elements that hold a child’s attention. We focus on building a design system that makes maths feel approachable rather than intimidating.

4. Develop the Adaptive Learning System

A major part of our process includes building the adaptive learning engine that adjusts the difficulty level based on a child’s performance. We program a content progression system that guides learners from basic to advanced topics in a logical sequence. This ensures personalised learning pathways that favour steady, consistent growth.

5. Integrate Gamification

To keep young learners engaged, we add gamified elements like badges, streaks, goals, and interactive rewards. Our goal is to motivate children through positive reinforcement, helping them develop a healthy and enjoyable learning routine. Gamification is balanced carefully to enhance learning without causing distraction.

6. Build Dashboards for Parents & Teachers

To support adults involved in the learning journey, we create detailed dashboards that display progress, strengths, weak areas, and activity patterns. These insights help parents and teachers understand how well the child is progressing and where additional support might be needed. Transparency is key to earning user trust.

7. QA Testing

Before launching, we test the app with real children, parents, and educators. This helps us identify usability issues, confusing instructions, or content gaps. Their feedback plays a crucial role in refining the app and ensuring the learning experience feels natural, enjoyable, and productive.

8. Launch & Continuous Enhancement

After testing and polishing, we deploy the app and monitor usage closely. Our team continues to improve it post-launch by adding lessons, refining adaptive logic, updating visuals, and expanding the curriculum. Continuous updates keep our app relevant and competitive in the evolving edtech landscape.

Cost to Build a Math Practice App like DoodleMaths

Creating a math practice app like DoodleMaths involves design, development, content, and smart learning tech, all of which affect the price. Costs vary based on features, complexity, and quality.

Total Estimated Cost: $60,000 – $125,000

Note: Costs depend on content volume, learning complexity, device support, compliance (like child data privacy), customization, third-party integrations, and updates.

Consult with IdeaUsher for an accurate, project-specific cost estimate for your maths learning app. We’ll help define scope, refine features, and create a development roadmap aligned with your goals.

Challenges & Solutions to Build a Math Practice App

Building a math learning app involves more than just coding; it requires educational accuracy, smooth user experience, and intelligent adaptive systems. Below are the key challenges developers face and the practical solutions that help overcome them.

1. Accurate & Curriculum-Aligned Content

Challenge: Creating accurate, curriculum-aligned content for multiple age groups is difficult because learning paths vary across regions and require precise sequencing of maths concepts.

Solution: We gather curriculum requirements directly from the client, map their content structure into the app, and build a learning flow that maintains accurate sequencing, regional alignment, and consistent maths depth across all modules.

2. Effective Adaptive Learning System

Challenge: Designing an adaptive learning engine is challenging because the system must analyse performance in real time and adjust difficulty levels for each child accurately.

Solution: We design a personalised learning algorithm that tracks accuracy, response time, prior attempts, and topic familiarity to deliver targeted questions, ensuring every learner receives a dynamic learning path tailored to their evolving skill level.

3. Child-Friendly UI/UX

Challenge: Creating a child-friendly interface is complex because young learners need simple navigation, clear visuals, and intuitive layouts that support focused maths learning without distractions.

Solution: Our design team builds an interface with clean navigation, large interactive elements, and visually supportive maths prompts that help children stay engaged. We validate every screen through child usability testing to ensure clarity and comfort.

4. Handling Child Data Privacy and Security

Challenge: Protecting children’s data is a sensitive challenge because compliance with privacy regulations demands strong security practices and careful handling of personal and learning information.

Solution: We implement encrypted storage, secure login flows, parental consent checks, and minimal data collection policies. Our compliance team regularly reviews requirements to ensure the app meets global child safety and privacy standards.

Conclusion

A math learning app like DoodleMaths development requires a clear strategy, thoughtful design, and a focus on personalized learning that supports young learners as they build confidence. When you understand how adaptive pathways, engaging content, and accessible interfaces work together, it becomes easier to shape a platform that delivers real educational value. With the right vision and a structured development approach, you can create an app that helps students learn at their pace while keeping them motivated. This path sets a strong foundation for a competitive and impactful learning product.

Why Choose IdeaUsher for Your Math Learning App Development?

IdeaUsher builds engaging and scalable math learning apps designed to support structured skill improvement and measurable progress for young learners. Our team specializes in crafting intuitive interfaces, adaptive learning paths, and gamified experiences that align with educational goals.

Why Work with Us?

• Expertise in EdTech Development: We combine strong technical capabilities with a deep understanding of modern learning frameworks to build apps that encourage long term engagement.
• Custom Learning Features: From personalized assessments to AI driven practice modules, we design features that help students improve at the right pace.
• Proven Delivery: With a strong portfolio of successful EdTech solutions, we deliver reliable products that meet quality standards and support smooth scalability.
• Security and Data Protection: Our solutions prioritize child safety, data privacy, and compliance with global education guidelines.

Explore our work to see how we collaborate with education-focused companies to launch high-impact digital learning products. 

Connect with us to shape your math learning app idea into a structured and market-ready solution.

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