So i take a rather loose interpretation of iTunes App store lists of the top Free or Paid Apps. I'm sure the algorithm that determines what ends up in the "Top" lists is so complicated that they have an army of mathlete optical laser engineers who work on it. However - I hope that a good dose of fun gets worked into the equation somehow. Wormie and I try to tease out the fun strings from the messy App Store algorithm when we are testing applications. I mix up the free and paid applications we review, but given this is cyberweek i'm going to try and do a free app a day during down time at work. Here's the catch...i'm going to do a "Lite" review.
In general a lot of the free applications that are appropriate for kids are limited in functionality and are designed as free trials with the goal of upselling you to their paid version. Shape Builder Lite is a puzzle application that was high up in the Free Education Apps section of the iPhone App store. This fit my criteria of peceived value and the right price.
The premise is simple - you get an outline of a puzzle and the missing pieces. You then drag pieces into the corresponding spot on the outlined shape and build your object. Once it is complete the object forms into a picture and makes a sound. I make a puzzle guitar, the puzzle turns into a guitar, the guitar then plays a little ditty.
Wormie grasped the basics right out of the gate. She could start the app on her own and quickly started trying to drop the pieces into the relevant spots. The challenge, and my only complaint about this application, is that the game play of dragging pieces was a little off. Wormie and her four year old fingers wanted to direct the puzzle piecec by holding it right in the middle. It was much more effective by dragging the lower right corner of each piece and dropping that slighly past where the puzzle ended. That was an impossible concept to explain, but after a few frustrating tries she seemed to get it down well enough to complete a puzzle with limited cries for "Daddy." After several days she had the game play down cold and did not need any help.
Wormie likes it. I don't think there is any educational value to forming the letters or objects but she likes it and i think is a fun brain teaser. I am tempted to get the full paid version since she cycles through all the free puzzles (5-10) quickly.
Age Range: 3.5+
Difficulty: 3/5 (5 being easy)
Look & Feel : 25 (5 being cool)
Parent Helper: 3/5 (5 being helpful)
Price:Free
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