CapyMaths

"Two girls, one deck of cards"

For the longest time, I thought you could predict what a child would be like. People always say they get their dad's looks and their mum's eyes. I went one further: I was sure personality had almost nothing to do with DNA, and everything to do with how you raise them. Ten years in, I've found it's nowhere near that simple.

My wife and I are chalk and cheese. We met through sport and art, opposite ends of the room. I'm restless, she's calm. I play sport, she paints. I'm rough around the edges, she's the one who notices the small things.

And somehow our two girls took everything the two of us are, pulled it apart, and split it down the middle, half each, with uncanny precision. It's as if an invisible hand had been dealing cards behind our backs. A red in the left hand, a black in the right. Never once a matching pair.

You see the hand they were each dealt most clearly when they sit down to do their maths.

My older one gets in from school and, before she'll do anything else, gets through 150 maths questions. Nobody makes her. When I asked her why, she just said she wanted to beat the other kids in the app. My younger one comes home and puts it off for as long as the world will let her. It takes bribery, coaxing and a fair bit of negotiation before she'll scrape through her 30 for the day.

The older one is never wrong. If an answer comes back wrong, it must be someone else's fault, and she'll march over to tell me my app has bugs. The younger one is the better negotiator. "We haven't done this yet," she'll say, or "the teacher hasn't taught us that," looking for all the world like she's hard at it while her mind is miles away. It was only when my wife went into the parent dashboard that we found out she'd quietly been doing nothing but the 3 times table.

Honestly, I'm grateful they're so different. Two extremes under one roof teach you more about being a parent than two easy-going children ever could.

So for their sake, I've tried to build the app wide enough for every kind of child. For the one who loves to compete, there are leaderboards and win streaks. For the one who needs coaxing, there's a capybara she can only keep fed by doing her maths. I can't change the cards they were dealt. The most I can do is make sure there's a way forward for every hand.

You don't get to choose the cards you're dealt. But you do get to choose how you sit at the table with them and play the hand.

In just over three months, more than three thousand children here in the UK have started using it. I've got one wildly unrealistic wish: to reach ten thousand by the end of June. Search "CapyMaths" on the App Store or Play Store. It's completely free now, with the AI features included.

Year 6 SATs level, and no calculator allowed.

The question's up on the board. Could your child crack it?

(It looks simple. A surprising number of grown-ups get it wrong first time.)

Answer in the comments 👇

🎉 CapyMaths just got an update! (v1.1.3 is live)

Hi everyone! The new version is now on the App Store and Google Play. Please update to the latest version 👇

🦫 Maths feeds your capybara
Every correct answer makes the capybara happier. Learning is now the heart of caring for the pet, while games only make it hungry. It gently nudges kids to practise first, then play.

🏆 A fairer leaderboard
A new "My Year" tab lets children compare only with their own year group, so everyone gets a fair shot at the top.

🎮 Smoother mini-games
Controls and fairness across several games have been improved for a better feel.

⚡ Faster, smoother, safer
Quicker loading, plus stronger account security and stability.

Just reopen the app after updating to enjoy 🎈

🗞️CapyComic every Wednesday🗞️
Year 3 maths isn't hard. The wall of words is.

Poppy gets there in 4 steps:
1. Find the numbers
2. Find the question
3. Picture the groups
4. Do the maths

24 ÷ 6 = 4. Easy. Eventually.

(Finn, as always, ate the stickers.)

— A new CapyComic every Wednesday.
CapyMaths is on the App Store and Google Play. Link in bio.

Meet the Rivermap Primary class 🪻

🟤 Mochi — capybara, Year 3. Chill. Snack-distracted.
🌸 Poppy — axolotl, Year 3. Anxious. Always panicking.
🦦 Finn — otter, Year 3. Chaos. Eats everything.
🪶 Miss River — heron, teacher. Patient. Long sentences.
🟫 Biscuit — baby capybara, Year 1. Fearless toddler.

CapyComics — a weekly Year 3 maths strip.

Which one is yours? 🫧

‼️Something new is here… Meet Capy Comics‼️

This week, we’re launching ‼️Capy Comics‼️ — a new way to help children see maths through stories, characters and little “I get it!” moments.

Our first comic looks at a simple idea:

🍪 **2 rows of 7 biscuits**
💭 That’s the same as **7 + 7**
✨ And that helps us understand **2 × 7 = 14**

Instead of jumping straight into memorising, Capy Comics helps children slow down, look carefully and make sense of the maths.

Because maths can be:
🐹 cute
📚 visual
💛 confidence-building
✨ and actually fun to talk about

Share this with your child and ask:
**“How would you explain 2 × 7?”**

Saturday morning maths question:

Why does my Year 3 daughter sit down
with the iPad voluntarily on weekends,
when there's literally a thousand more
fun things she could be doing?

Honest answer: she wants to feed her
Capybara.

That's the whole story.

She does maths to earn coins. Coins
become carrots. Carrots feed her
on-screen pet. Her pet grows. Her pet
gets happier. She feels proud.

CapyMaths gives them one that works.

✓ Real reward system kids care about
✓ 100% UK National Curriculum
✓ Year 1 to Year 6, plus SATs
✓ 15 minutes a day, voluntarily

On App Store and Google Play.

CapyMaths starts with wins.

Easy first. Then slightly harder. The
Capybara celebrates every correct
answer. Tiny dances. Immediate "yes."

That's the kind of moment a 7-year-old
needs to fall in love with maths.

100% UK National Curriculum.
Year 1 to Year 6, plus SATs.
iPhone and Android.

Link in bio 🦫

"We did times tables today. Can I do
CapyMaths now?"

— My Year 3, last Tuesday.

That's the moment I knew CapyMaths was
working.

When what they practise at home matches
what they learn at school, maths starts
making sense.

100% UK National Curriculum.
Year 1 to Year 6, plus SATs.
Made by a UK dad. Used in UK homes.

iPhone and Android.
Link in bio 🦫