Ipswich Building Society has launched a new educational app aimed at primary school-age children and their parents.

The app, “My Puppy: Maths and Money” enables players to guide a virtual puppy through a series of entertaining puzzles and fun tasks to earn “puppy pounds” they can save or spend on their “puppy”.

With research showing that a quarter of British children under eight own a tablet device, the app aims to improve financial literacy throughout the UK and within the society’s heartland area of Suffolk and the East of England.

The Society has identified a local-level need to support financial education, particularly among younger children and it already runs “Money Days” in primary schools, teaching Year 2 children about finance through stories, games and creative play.

The app aims to help children to develop an understanding of how money works and help them to recognise different coins, as well as establishing an understanding of budgeting and saving.

Primary school teacher Louise Swindlehurst said: “My Puppy: Maths and Money is a fantastic interactive learning aid. I’m a mum to two boys and they loved the games and the rewards for completing the different tasks.

“I’m looking to introduce it to my class at school. It’s a good way to grab their attention and make financial learning a little more interesting.”

Paul Winter, Ipswich Building Society’s chief executive, added: “We’re serious about improving financial literacy in Suffolk and the UK.

“We think it’s vital that every primary school aged child should know the value of money and reasons to save for the future. We set out to combat the issue in a fun and informative way and that’s why we created our My Puppy: Maths and Money app. I’ve already started playing it with my eldest grandchild.”