We know that maths is one of the most popular categories of children’s apps among parents, keen to help their kids practise their early calculation skills.

Here’s a pair of new apps from book publisher Bloomsbury and developer Aimer Media that may be of interest: both based on the Let’s Do Mental Maths books by Andrew Brodie. One app is for 6-7 year-olds, and the other is for 10-11 year-olds.

Both are based on the same idea: a series of maths tests completed against the clock, with children trying to improve their best score each time.

There are starter questions to “get your brain in gear”, practice tests to give it a good workout, and then the Progress Tests to keep track of scores and progress over time.

Bloomsbury says the app is designed to support the maths that children are learning at school, including practising for their real-world tests. Audio is a big part of them too, with prompts to ensure children know what to do next at any point.

Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are all covered, along with related tasks for fractions, time, measure and shape. The apps have been designed to be as clear and simple to use as possible, although characters from the books like Digit the dog still feature.

Let’s Do Mental Maths for Ages 6-7 from Andrew Brodie costs £1.99 for iPhone and iPad on Apple’s App Store, while Let’s Do Mental Maths for Ages 10-11 from Andrew Brodie also costs £1.99 for iPhone and iPad.

Read about more maths apps for kids on Apps Playground, and check out our 100 Best iPad Apps of 2013 e-book – £1.99 from Apple’s iBooks Store