When Less Can Be More: Evaluating the Impact of Animated and Interactive Demonstrations in Voice-Assisted Counting Games for Young Children

Early experiences with counting form a critical foundation for children's numeracy development. Despite the increasing use of voice assistants in young children's math learning, the effectiveness of different levels of demonstration—animated and interactive—accompanied by these assistants remains unclear. This study examines how different demonstrations in touchscreen devices, combined with voice assistants, supported children's developing counting skills. We developed a tablet counting game for children aged 2-4 years, incorporating voice assistant counting. In a user study with 32 children, we compared two conditions (animated and interactive demonstrations), with each condition also being evaluated against a baseline. We found that animated demonstrations improved math performance compared to the baseline, while interactive demonstrations did not. These findings suggest that counting with voice assistants has the potential to support early counting experiences and highlight the importance of designing educational technology with appropriate levels of demonstration to engage young learners without increasing cognitive overload.