Category: Puzzle »

Pettson’s Inventions Deluxe is a unique and highly engaging problem solving puzzle app for children as well as adults.

Meet Pettson and his cat Findus, and help them build fantastical contraptions while keeping in mind the laws of physics as players add different parts to the machine-like cogs and belts as well as unique items such as a ramp made out of cheese or a flower pot.

It is tempting to compare Pettson’s Intentions to a Rube Goldberg machine, and although I think this comparison has some merit, I do not believe it is spot-on as Rube Goldberg device solve simple daily problems such as turning on a light switch with the use of a convoluted and over-built invention. Here, however, there is more of a sense of nonsense as one may devise a way to open and close monster cages as the creatures when loose may scare an animal making it run, pulling a lever behind them, watering flowers to make them instantly grow which may lure a cow to graze, as well as tasks that could include washing a pig or making it snow around the house with the use of an ice cream cone and a windmill.

This deluxe app consists of the content of Pettson’s inventions 1 and 2 and includes six new puzzles as well as the ability to race the clock to play against someone as the screen of the iPad is then split and users play head-to-head on the same device.

It is worth noting that this app has a few really important options, as one can get a visual hint of how to solve the problem at hand by not just being told the object, but by also seeing a visual clue allowing users to see what it looks like to make a dragon happy instead of just hearing the description. Another option is to having only the parts needed for the specific invention or including other items that will not be needed for the puzzle, thus increasing the difficulty of these sections.

When ready to work on these puzzles, one will note that certain clues are given throughout, as pins to attach gears may be included, or there may already be gears within the invention that one needs to attach a belt to as well as pipes in need of being fitted or pulleys which take shape when dragged onto the invention area of the page, center screen, as all the items to be used in these contraptions can be seen lining the perimeter of the page.

As one becomes more familiar with these puzzles, the tools one can add to the inventions will become more familiar as they work consistently the same way from puzzle to puzzle, also noting that there is some color coding that is also included - a nice touch.

I also appreciate how the power to these inventions can be turned on while building to see how the plans are working so far, allowing players to see what more needs to be done.

For the most part, I find the level of difficulty in this app good, and I have been able to solve the majority of these puzzles on my own without too much frustration.

It is nice to know that one can find walk-throughs of much of this app on line if needed, as I did for a scene where one needs to suspend a weight in mid air, and I could not find the sweet spot from which to hang the anvil. It would be nice if the app had help like this within the app as well for children who may feel stuck.

Pettson’s Inventions Deluxe is a wonderful app for logic and problem solving. The inventions one creates are highly creative, and I am quite fond of all the quirky details found within.

Recently, I was given the chance to try out the Crayola Light Marker. This piece of hardware, as the name may describe, allows children to use this chubby crayon-like tool -  part laser pointer of sorts - to draw and in other ways interact with the free app associated with this Light Marker.

Included with the Light Marker is a simple but nicely functional green plastic stand for the iPad that is thoughtfully included as this app is used on a propped iPad, with children standing between two and three feet away from their target.

One will need to use a very small Phillips head screwdriver to open the marker and install the included AA battery or an AA battery of one’s choice. 

When installed, a press of the top button will turn on the power to the pen, while the button on the side of the marker needs to be pressed to draw or otherwise interact with the iPad.

A free app, also named Crayola Light Marker is used as the software for this tool and includes six interactive sections.

Do first calibrate the pen by holding the Light Marker over the front-facing camera of one’s iPad, and note that this app lets children know if they are too close or too far away for optimal results - helpful info to be sure. 

Dot to Dot is pretty much what one might expect from this sort of activity as users connects the dots of one of five simple animal drawings. I enjoy how one’s own marker strokes can be seen on the page as the dots become connected and the animal details are added to the image for a nice effect. After the animal is complete, children are able to color in their drawings. 

Splatter Paint is an arcade-type shooting game for very young children allowing them to choose from a variety of templates and then pop paint-filled balloons over these areas to create an image as well as to keep score by asking children to see how many balloons they can pop in sixty seconds. Children also have a series of three color palette choices as well as slow, medium and fast speeds for the ascent of the balloon targets. 

A puzzle section is included where one has a chance to put together a few different puzzles in a range of easy, medium and difficult levels. 

Coloring pages as well as a blank page to work on are also included which offer users different tools such as paintbrush, crayon, marker, paint bucket mode where one can fill in a section of the drawing with a single tap and some novelty stamps. Three tip sizes can be chosen, and an eraser is available as well as a forward and go back button as well as the ability to share art with family and friends.

My favorite section is a section called Hide ‘ N Seek, where players look for hidden objects within six differently themed scenes using the marker as a flashlight and tapping on the objects when found using the side button of the marker. Three difficulty levels are included, nicely making this activity easier with a larger area of the page illuminated with the marker as well as less fun clutter to hunt through. Two more varied degrees of difficulty are also included for older children with more superfluous objects to not be distracted by and smaller beams of light to make use of during this seek and find activity. 

I do wish, however, that there were more activities that were geared specifically towards this new technology, as the coloring and puzzle areas can be better completed in finger mode allowed in these sections, especially the coloring in of the included drawings without the paint bucket function, as it is impossible to color within the lines with the marker from such a distance. Because of this, I would love to see people be able to color with the marker as if it were a paintbrush, but not be able to color outside the lines of the area being colored. 

It is nice how the brush strokes of all the included tools look as if they are glowing for an interesting effect, and children may have fun drawing freehand on the included blank page, as will some adults who may be reminded of tagging the side of a building when they were younger themselves. 

Unfortunately, I do find the coloring page drawings to be at the level of clip art, which may not hold the interest of children past toddler hood. 

I appreciate this this tool can be used to encourage children to hold a pen or pencil correctly as the Light Marker is designed to be held with an index finger over the side button to engage the light to go from the power-on color of red to the green light that will engage the interactivity of the app. Although children may try to grip the marker with a fist, I think they will soon see that this hold is unwieldy and not accurate when working within these activities, encouraging them to hold this tool correctly.

Because this is an LED device, I would personally want children to have some supervision as I would worry about children looking directly at this light source or shining it into another person’s eyes - misuse that I would be concerned about.  

In testing this app, however I did hold the pen close to a wall in a darkened room to see how much light was emitted, which from my very unscientific test was not very much as I needed to get pretty close to the wall to see the red or green light lighting up the surface I was pointing at, making me feel better that this tool is not as powerful an LED as say in a flashlight - something bright enough that I do not let my son play with. 

The included stand was a welcome extra that I find myself using when watching storybook apps on Auto-Turn as well as other iPad viewing, but my husband and I have noted that a bit of an angle leaning back would be better for longer viewing of a movie or such - not an issue really as this stand works great to keep the iPad in the upright position for best use of the Light Marker. 

I feel fortunate that although my son enjoys the iPad and iPhone, his interest in crayons, writing with a pencil, or painting with a brush has not been hampered, and he is getting the hang of holding the pencil correctly. 

For those parents who have children who love technology and prefer to spend time tapping and dragging their fingers across a screen instead of working with real world objects that can help with fine motor skills, they may benefit from working with the Light Marker. 

It is my understanding that more apps may be developed in the future that incorporate this technology. I would love to see more varied activities that could only be achieved with this Light Marker instead of the basics like Dot to Dot or coloring pages that can be done just as easily with a pen or pencil. 

My five year old son was very eager to test this new Light Marker and related app, but when the novelty of the pen wears off, the included sections are not unique enough to keep kids his age interested for very long, and the marker may be too difficult for younger children to use as there is a learning curve to having the coordination needed to aim the light source where one wants to move tap or explore. Even with this being the case, I can also see some adults find the ability to let their child explore this app without actually touching the iPad inviting. Because of this, the Crayola Light Marker may be worth checking out.

Brains My Body is a very nice interactive app for children which teaches about basic anatomy and diversity and includes fun facts about the body.

The look of this app is crisp and clean, with colorful, textured woven fabric used as the background for these activities.

Also of note are the layered ambient sounds heard throughout, consisting of a beating heart, blowing wind and wind chimes - interesting choices I have enjoyed listening to.

Eight sections are included, four of which are puzzles that ask children to re-build the body. I do appreciate how this puzzle includes multiple levels of difficulty, seen in each of these sections as these puzzles become more in-depth.

The basic body structure is covered as one adds the head, chest arms and legs into an outline of a body, while a second level breaks down these parts into smaller ones while chunky parts like head, chest, thigh or foot still remain.

There is also a puzzle focusing on facial features, as at first the face is divided into strips such as hair, eyebrow, eyes, nose and mouth - pieces that must be placed back into a face template. In the second level, these features such as both eyes and ears need to be placed back where they belong independently as well as other areas of the face.

It is especially nice how in this face puzzle section, one can choose between a variety of faces, including diverse choices such as an Asian character and darker skin-toned non-Caucasian to re-build, adding to the re-play of this section as well as the diverse nature of this application.

The skeletal system has its own dedicated section, optionally narrating these bones as one places them back where they belong inside a body outline.

At first these skeletal pieces are large, consisting of a single piece for the trunk, arms, and legs, while later, in the second and third levels, breaking the spine, pelvis and ribcage into individual pieces, ultimately including each side of the rib cage as a separate piece, as are the hands and feet, upper and forearms, shin, and shin bone.

The internal organs are also touched upon here, as one needs to place the organs back into the body where they belong.

Again, during the first level of this game, these body parts are grouped together, such as brain and spinal column, lung and trachea, large and small intestines, bladder and kidneys, each of these pieces then separated into individual parts ultimately adding the nose and mouth cavity, as well as also including the pancreas, spleen and gallbladder.

Three other activities are included, such as an activity to tap various parts of the body to peel back a level, such as from the chest to the internal organs to then see an x-ray view of the bones. A variety of skin tones and different heads are included. One can also scroll through with a tap, creating an anatomical model of the player’s choosing.

There is also a chance to interact with a beating heart, as tapping in time to the beats will fill the body with blood, allowing children to see the coronary arteries fill, delivering blood throughout the body. A mistimed tap will remove blood. There are three levels to this exercise, increasing the speed of the heart being pumped, thus increasing the difficulty of this interaction.

One also has a chance to see a cross section of a body in order to view digestion at work. Do tap the hose included within the stomach as this adds necessary digestive juices needed to move the food through the body and out the other end, complete with flatulence noises - appropriate for this app.

A memory game is also included where one needs to turn over tiles in order to make pairs, with three levels ranging from twelve to sixteen tiles in play.

Each of these sections includes a magnifying glass that one can tap to read an interesting fact. A camera icon is also included to take and save a screen shot to the camera roll of one’s device.

The main note I have is that the organization of these sections could be arranged together - including the most basic sections as well as the more in depth anatomy puzzles.

This is a very nice, very stylized app introducing the human body to young children. I do see this app as a good choice for toddlers and early preschoolers and beyond as well as their adults who will enjoy this app a great deal, as these puzzles are reminiscent of multiple-layered wood puzzles I have always been interested in.

I am quite pleased to let readers know about Fairytale Maze 123, the third in a series of Maze apps by GiggleUp.

My son and I are huge fans of these mazes, as they are the ones chosen by my son to work with over and over again. He was tickled pink to explore Fairytale Maze 123, as this app weaves wonderful fairytale elements within, including oftentimes iconic characters as well as other details my son simply adores.

It made me smile how my son knew instantly the majority of these themes, twenty puzzles in all, including scenes from Hansel and Gretel, The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast.

Each of these puzzles is unique and utterly charming to interact with. This app opens to a fairy who with the drag of a finger is helped down a path which has a series of tangents one can choose consisting of different storybook characters.

As one explores these areas, the quality of these mazes will become quite evident as they include wonderfully bright illustrations and novel ways of approaching mazes, such as a flowing green vine for Jack and the Beanstalk, golden hair of Rapunsel, or my personal favorite - a maze taking place within the intestines of the whale that ate Pinocchio and Geppetto, making for some very fun and delightful mazes to be sure.

Also of note is how oftentimes one must first collect specific details or visit specific areas of these mazes to be able to complete these puzzles, such as the Three Little Pigs, visiting the first two houses of hay and wood before the conclusion of this puzzle at the house of bricks, collecting mice along the way to solving the Pied Piper theme, and even gathering up each of seven dwarfs during the Snow White section - wonderful details I really appreciate.

I have equally enjoyed the included music in each maze, each charmingly relating to the puzzle at hand, as medieval and Middle Eastern elements can be heard during Robin Hood and Aladdin alike, even with the theme to “Peter and the Wolf” within the area of the same name. Do tap around these different pages to trigger simple yet effective sounds and animations that add to the richness of these mazes.

The difficulty level of these mazes, which is varied, is perfect for my five year old son, who really takes his time collecting what he needs before solving each of these fun, colorful and engaging puzzles. Although a star is given for finishing each section, I am happy to say that no score is given for solving these mazes quickly, allowing children to work at their own pace.

Parents will love the variety of titles included here, from classic fairy tales to also including moments from longer books such as Peter Pan, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, or Alice in Wonderland - a fun survey of classic children’s tales.

I highly recommend Fairytale Maze 123 as I do the others in this series, Toddler Maze 123 and Preschool Maze 123 - wonderful apps for problem-solving as well as just having a lot of fun.

DragonBox+ Algebra is an interesting puzzle game that focuses on teaching children the basic principles of basic algebra along the way.

This is a an app which I have completed, and my feelings towards it varied depending on how far I had gotten during this game.

This app consists of five chapters, each with twenty levels that each include a fantasy creature who slowly evolves as these questions are completed. Four personalized accounts can be created, complete with an avatar to keep track of different players' progress - ideal for school settings as well as home with multiple players as well. An important bonus section, also including five chapters, is also included, as is a variety of different languishes.

The first impression is how high quality a game this is, with soothing yet suspenseful music and a mildly distressed, textured and pleasing-to-the-eye background screen which is the backdrop for these puzzle questions that users will be gazing at for some time.

This app is scripted, and one follows along the text explaining first how there are two sides of the screen and one box, plus other tiles that have a variety of images such as monster faces, birds, dragons or dice. The object is to isolate the box, removing the other tiles from the box side, until this box stands alone. To do so, add the opposite tile, removing this from the puzzle.

It is here that those with a background in algebra will understand how these puzzles are slowly forming algebraic equations, adding opposite tiles together, much like one would add negative numbers in the interest of subtraction, or how one must add the same tiles to both sides of the screen as you would to both sides of an equation. Later, the box is changed to a “X” and division of fractions is also touched upon as is multiplication.

I do wonder if this app is not overly theoretical as very little to no math is included in this app. This application is not about solving these questions but whittling down these problems until the equation reads “X = ...” Now students could presumably use their math skills to solve these problems, making my mind journey back to high school math with a teacher who would only take a point off if the last line of addition was incorrect but the other work shown was accurate.

To me as an adult, this app is a very nice exercise in answering these problems “algebraically” instead of with arithmetic - a concept this same teacher was at a loss to articulate, a failing of his I remember to this day.

I have enjoyed this app a great deal, feeling that it would have gone a very long way if I had been taught with this app during this math class. I do have my doubts that although children with no math basics will find this app fun and novel, they will not also find DragonBox overly theoretical in terms of being able to understand math beyond being some sort of parlor trick. I also feel the idea that a child as young as my five year old son could solve or truly understand a math question reserved for high schoolers dubious as these questions do not solve any real math, being devoid of numbers, while teaching these concepts in a way that some may take to heart, possibly with very good results.

Having gone through the first two chapters, it is too early to tell if my son will gain an understanding of algebra from this app, even with my explanations of how this app relates to later math - an important insight for this app to be anything more than an interesting exercise in problem solving. I do believe that this is a time that “not knowing the child is learning math” takes away from this experience. It would also be nice if these problems could include the solutions as without any hints or answers, users can hit a frustrating impasse.

I do highly, however, recommend this app to top math teachers who can thoughtfully explain how this app relates to algebra, alongside questions that include numbers which can follow through and solve during the teaching of algebra itself.

I also recommend this app to homes where parents or other adults can sit with their children and help them work through these levels, explaining how these parameters relate to later math, giving them a bit of a head start, but I do not think this app can live up to its potential without added instructions.

I would also like to note the importance of the bonus levels, not only as the content here is quite high (including five complete chapters, much more that I expected from a “bonus” section of an app), but it is here that much of what is being taught “clicked” for me in terms of true algebraic significance.

Even if my son is too young to fully grasp what this app ultimately has to offer, I would still be quite happy for him to complete these puzzles as an exercise in logic instead of algebra - still thought-provoking and still wonderful for pre-math and thinking skills in general.

I do hope that what my son may learn from this app he takes with him into algebra, such as performing the same functions on one side of an equation as the other, but I do think he would need to re-visit this app at a later time to gain full insight into what this app has to offer.

I do not find these points flaws in this app, but please do not expect preschoolers to truly solve high school algebra. They may possibly be able to isolate X, but this is not to equate an answer for what X represents, and I am ambivalent as to could recreate the experience with a pen and paper. I prefer for my son to look at this app as a unique logic game for now and an algebraic teaching tool later on when this app can take on more relevance.

One note I would like to make, however, is that this app can be at times un-responsive when adding tiles together, to the point that those not certain of their correct answers may try another way of solving these problems - an issue that I hope can be smoothed out in an update soon.

It will come as no surprise to readers that I am often asked to recommend apps to family and friends, especially for those in grade school, as iTunes seems filled with apps for toddlers and those in preschool, but it can be harder to find apps for older children.

Parents looking for an interesting, thought-provoking app for this age set should take note of Escape From Tokeru, a puzzle game that includes an interesting back story, beautiful illustrations and moody, ambient background music.

Here, three Light Emitters have been kidnapped, and without their release, the world will be in darkness forever.

To play, one must lead the way for the light emitters to escape their captivity, opening and closing parts of a maze to create a channel for their light to flow, bypassing a dangerous sleeping dragon. When compete, tap the Light Emitters to see if the light flows only there if it is desired.

There are four sections to this application, each consisting of five boards. Each area will include new parameters of game play, such as choosing for light to flow horizontally or vertically and the use of light tunnels or directional switches one can rotate to direct the flow of light.

Each of these areas consists of a landscape seen behind the maze, beautifully illustrated in a raw, distressed fashion, including an ice and snow-covered mountains, earth tone rock formations, grey cavernous tunnels and a green forest scene with distant light seen from between trees as the Light Emitters make their way to freedom.

These images, combined with the interesting electronic background music, create a sense of fantasy and suspense bringing richness and to this experience.

I am very happy to report that this app also includes hints of these puzzles, showing players which of these locks should be opened and closed to guide the Light Emitters to safety - details I wish would be included in more puzzle apps.

I have really enjoyed the hand-made quality that is a part of this app as well as others from this developer, The Trustee for the Tokeru Trust, including Loopy Tunes and A Fine Musician, a music sampling and interactive storybook app, each crafted with a lot of love and craftsmanship.

I can easily recommend Escape From Tokeru for all ages from grade school and up, as these puzzles have a nice amount of challenge to them as well as the answers one may be looking for, which I am grateful for.

Cheesy Chess is a creative and fun mouse-themed logic game with heavy chess elements.

This app reminds me a lot of the slider puzzles I had as a kid where plastic tiles will ultimately make up an image but needed to be slid within this puzzle, keeping in mind that only one piece can be moved at once.

Here, imagine a mouse king who needs to progress through this slider puzzle at the top center to leave this board, but the other puzzle pieces need to be moved out of his way to do so.

The interesting chess elements included are that the pieces are each styled to look like chess pieces, with the option to view these puzzles using classic chess piece stylings or using mice which dressed as these pieces, such as king, queen, bishop or pawns.

As one may expect, these pieces move according to the rules of the classic game of chess - an interesting, effective set of parameters for this game of logic.

I appreciate how as each piece is moved, the other pieces now opened up are highlighted in green, and one can drag or simply tap these pieces to move them to their next spot on the board.

This is a very nice game for children new to chess, as it will re-enforce how these pieces as well as the other pieces move as well as how to look at the bigger picture of the chess board, planning future moves as well as seeing multiple options.

It is worth noting, however, that these puzzles become increasingly difficult rather quickly, so I would hope early chess players will be able to share this app with adults.

It would also be nice if each of these levels has the correct answer or hints available - an important inclusion often overlooked in puzzle apps such as this, but I do appreciate the chance to take a step back when the board is deadlocked to try more changes for a better outcome.

The mouse-player board is fun and charming with minor animation included as a reward for a completed puzzle - fun for children. The classic puzzle pieces mode will appeal to adults and older children, and with 100 levels among five stages, there is certainly a lot of content that older players will gravitate towards.

Although I can recommend Cheesy Chess to children new to the rules of chess, don’t let the name fool adults into thinking that this is simply a children’s game, as adults and teens will feel challenged in these upper levels as well, making this an interesting logic puzzle game that I can recommend to a wide age range.

Zachy the Robot: Quest for the Museum Treasures is a terrific interactive app that delves into different topics of natural history in a way that is sure to captivate children and their adults.

This is the second Zachy the Robot app. This one takes place again in Robocity, focusing on a group of robot friends, the Robocity Repairbots, who help their town with their problems, as their wheelhouse is fixing structural issues in buildings, as seen in the first app which focused on engineering.

Here, the gang is brought back to add exhibits to the newly built and empty Robocity Natural History Museum, explained in the bright, colorful and fun animated intro. I love how excited these characters are by the topic of natural history - an enthusiasm that parents will hope rubs off on their children.

Three sections are included, as the gang collect fossils, minerals and dinosaur bones to be later displayed in this museum.

The Fossils section begins with a map showing ten dig sites to choose from to search for relics. After choosing a site to work in, one will then use a chisel to dig under the ground to find buried fossils.

Once the treasures are dug up, a matching section is to be completed as index fossils are explored and the newly dug treasures are matched to boxes of previously dated fossils - though not yet unpacked.

Next is a maze area through which one needs to help a robot move in the museum with the exhibit - a space crowded with clutter and other objects not yet unpacked which creates the maze and the obstacles that one needs to navigate with the tilting of the iPad.

Once users are past the maze, the fossil is placed in the exhibit, and more is learned about what has been found. As other fossils are collected, do look back at this area of the app of Invertebrate Fossils ranging from both the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Eras.

In the mineral area, a list of minerals one can choose from is offered to the user, and once a choice is made, a map will show the different areas of the world where this mineral is sourced, sometimes including more than one location that one needs to explore in this content-rich educational app.

To source these materials, one must complete a simple logic puzzle that uses different minerals to complete the correct pattern. After the minerals are sourced, the mayor of Robocity appears to tell the workers that he needs various supplies for the city that are manufactured with the mineral in question, teaching children the practical uses for what was found, such as drill bits from diamonds, or zinc for sunblock.

Because of this, children will then need to sort mineral pieces for the museum worthy for showing as well as the more industrial samples and waste rocks that need to be discarded.

A nice animated section explains how the raw material is sent to a factory to ultimately be transformed into a useful product.

It is worth noting that both minerals and elements are included, sectioned accordingly in an area that saves the found materials to be read about later - a great resource to read to oneself.

The dinosaur exhibit section is just as interesting, allowing children to choose a dig site from a world map, dig for fossils as well as put these bones back together in a puzzle activity. Also included is a dinosaur-viewing screen allowing children to see with animation what the dino in question may have looked like when alive many years ago.

I really appreciate how the background seen at all the various dig sites from each of these three sections includes a specific scenic backdrop as well as related music that teaches a little about each area of the world visited - a nice touch, to be sure.

There is a vast amount of information for children to explore in this app developed in association with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, giving children many hours of science fun that parents will feel great about.

This is the second Zachy the Robot developed, and I can say we have enjoyed both apps very much. I can count the first app, Episode 1: the learning tower of robocity, on the short list of applications that my son often re-visits long after having been released. For a while now, he has been asking me when a second app would be available, and I can say that it has definitely been worth the wait.

I hope more apps from this series will be developed in the future as well because they are uniformly bright and colorful, both quite fun as well as highly educational, worthy for use in both home and in educational settings.

Yummiloo Rainbow Power, from the developers at Night and Day Studio, is an absolutely delightful universal, top-notch interactive app that teaches about healthy food choices in a way most charming.

When first exploring this app, one will watch a short introductory video that I found hugely impressive, with great looking, bright and colorful animation and music to rival the opening scene of any highly regarded children’s television program.

Presumably computer-generated, this video includes animation at its height of quality, including the details of the fresh foods shown in this scene - rich with realistic details, such as showing the tender delicate flesh of raspberries and other fruits, making this animated video, as is true of this application in general, a love letter to produce.

The included cheerful music is wonderfully upbeat - memorable and fun, even for adults and reminiscent of an indie band’s album for children. Narration is included which I greatly enjoy as well, talking directly to the user - wonderfully effective to be sure.

Here you meet Rooty, a sweet little root vegetable character and friends from Yummiloo who need help as the Rainbow Machine which powers their carnival is out of energy. To get this machine going again, children will have to help Rooty gather up fruits and vegetables that will power up the Rainbow Machine.

The Rainbow Machine is a Seussian contraption, styled with different colorful sections that all have to be filled up with corresponding colorful foods that are found in the garden and need to be tapped and dragged to a basket - also nicely color-coded. I appreciate how one needs to wait to pull foods that are fully matured as well as adding other foods to the compost bin, which then gets emptied back into the garden - a very nice choice.

Children will enjoy this activity with mild arcade elements as they sort by color, also learning each fruit or vegetable by name as children’s narration notes each food's name when added to the basket - a nice contrast to the adult who narrates prompts during this game.

When all the colored sections of the Rainbow Machine have been filled, this game is complete and children are rewarded with a video of the carnival in motion - a glorious display and quite the treat for children who spent the time to complete each color of the Rainbow Machine.

It is also worth noting that although the de-fault of this app is a dragging and dropping motion from the garden to the basket or compost bin, one can change these controls to a simple tap - great for toddlers who will gain so much from the color sorting and learning the names of these fruits and vegetables such as yellow squash or jicama.

This is a terrific app to re-enforce good eating habits, allowing children to fully appreciate the term “eat a rainbow.”

There is so much to love about Yummiloo Rainbow Power. It is sure to be a hit not only with children but with their adults as well. I am thrilled that this app is the first from a series of Yummiloo apps that I am quite eager to review in the future. I don’t think toddler and preschool families can go wrong with Yummiloo Rainbow Power - a special app that families will adore.

Wildlife Jigsaw Puzzles 123 - Fun Learning Puzzle Game For Kids is a new puzzle app from GiggleUp, a wonderful developer with a hearty library of apps including a very nice selection of puzzle applications.

Wildlife Jigsaw Puzzles 123 is a delightful collection of seven scenes with themes such as Jungle Friends, Forest Critters, Desert Folks or Snow Buddies.

Scroll through each if these areas and choose a puzzle to explore with a tap. From here one will see the animals change to blank areas that need to be filled in, reminiscent of a chunky puzzle board without the pieces. Choose an area of this puzzle to work on, and players will be brought to a jigsaw puzzle of the animal in question to complete.

I really enjoy how this app allows children to choose the difficulty level of two to sixteen pieces, as well as including a subtle hint that can be turned on and off showing the background to fill in as a reference.

I have, however, noticed that when working on these puzzles using sixteen pieces, half the pieces are offered at once so as not to overwhelm that page. I wish however, that the corners and other side pieces were always the first puzzle parts included as these border pieces are the anchors of a puzzle, and the positioning of these pieces first is the way I have taught my son to complete jigsaw puzzles.

Even with this note, these puzzles contain a lot of polish. The different scenes are bright and colorful, containing cute animals for children to learn about, as narration labels each animal as their puzzle is completed.

Also nice is how pleasant music as well as a large number of languages are included, making this a nice app to learn animal names in many European as well as Asian languages.

Although I would never expect apps like this to take the place of children’s chunky and jigsaw puzzles, I know how hard it was for my son to keep all the puzzle pieces together without losing any parts - to the point that only now at five years old is my son able to keep puzzles together responsibly.

Because of this, I think that Wildlife Jigsaw Puzzles 123 is a great app for children to work each of these puzzles - more than forty in total - as each will be complete and ready to explore - no pieces to lose in bed or sofa or while traveling.

As these puzzles contain a variety of difficulty, this app will be well-suited for many ages - from toddlers new to puzzles to Pre K, growing with children and great for re-play.

If interested, do check out the other apps developed by GiggleUp as well, both here as well as through iTunes. I have been uniformly impressed by these applications, and I can’t wait to see what new apps GiggleUp will develop in the future.

Falling Wall is a delightfully quirky universal logic game for children by the developers at Busythings.

From what I can gather from the lack of reviews in general for Busythings apps, I believe that the public by and large has not been exposed to the terrific, wonderfully animated Busythings educational apps that are often excellent at teaching spatial awareness and problem solving.

Such is the case in Falling Wall - a novel approach to having children flex their reasoning and spatial awareness skills. Pink men and yellow worms need to be moved to the holes in a wall soon to be knocked down by a monkey who is itching to press the plunger of dynamite that will send the wall flat onto the ground. If the men and worms have been positioned where the holes will fall, the level will be solved and the characters will dance for joy at being saved. If players place these characters in the wrong area, however, they will be crushed with their heads, making fantastical dents into the wall.

I appreciate how the wall is broken into panels that correlate to the checkerboard pattern seen on the ground. Moving the characters around the ground will in turn highlight the area of the ground where the character has been placed to greatly help players fully understand the placement of these men or worms for the best outcome, but even with this helpful detail, this game is harder than it looks.

Four different levels of difficulty are included which offer players a chance to explore grids 2X2 to a 5X5 board that allows for men and worms to hide in holes found anywhere among the 25 included panels, and it is good to know that this game is randomized - great for re-play.

I also smitten by all the whimsical details that are included in Falling Wall, such as the dynamite plunger raising a bit after each character is placed on a tile. When the positioning is complete, tap on the monkey who will count down from three before knocking down the wall, fist-pumping after causing the explosion. If successful, the characters will dance in their holes, popping up and out of the wall with enthusiasm. If positioned wrong, instead of a head popping safely through the hole, a crack in the wall can be seen where the head becomes crushed. Also note the helicopter with giant claw removing the fallen wall as well as the characters parachuting down, returning for their turn once more.

I delight in all the details, sound effects and musical moments included, making this app rich with nuance to keep this game light and fun.

I can definitely recommend Falling Wall to be used both at school as well as a great game for parents to share with their children. This is a wonderful app for spatial reasoning, making it a terrific educational app disguised as a kids' game.

Do check out the other Busythings titles both in iTunes as well as the reviews posted here at GiggleApps. Busythings apps have so much to offer that parents and teachers will be remiss if they don’t check out this UK-based developer.

Futaba Classroom Games For Kids is a unique game app for children, educational as well as fun.

This app, a digital quiz game for both multi - as well as single players, really stands out because an adult can program the questions children answer to a wide age range of abilities from preschool age through the 10th grade as well as easy, medium or hard questions for these grades.

Up to four players can gather around the iPad which shows a question center screen, slowly revolving so all players have a chance to see and then answer the question with a tap from one of three possible choices at the bottom of their place at the screen.

A practice mode is also available that allows one player to use this app by himself.

The look of this app is quite nice, clean and sophisticated with a natural wood look to the background of this application as well as very nice music included to listen to - both relaxing as well as adding a bit of suspense to these games.

Also nicely styled are the questions which are included within a circle. With each correct answer, an area of this circle is highlighted until ten questions are answered correctly and a “Futaba” is earned - a citrus fruit that is a consistent theme in this educational app.

From animal recognition to the Table of Elements, different shapes to counting money and even learning about languages different from English, this app covers a vast array of questions that can be included.

It took me some time to understand how to create my own games using the filters provided, and I personally think it is easier to choose from all the subjects available instead of trying to filter these choices by grade or difficulty, as after going down the extensive list, I can simply check off the questions I would like included - down to the specific questions, and not just what themes to focus on.

I admire how multiple games can be created to allow children of different abilities to play this app at different times, making it a great choice for school settings as well as use in the home, especially for families with children of different ages and subjects to focus on.

Be it alone or with others, I can see children of all ages as well as adults enjoying these quizzes a great deal. I also appreciate how the plethora of questions for children from preschool into high school allows this app to grow with children, as well as to be a great teaching tool for the classroom as well.

I am excited to introduce readers to a new maze app by GiggleUp, Preschool Maze 123. As the name may imply, is a delightful maze app for preschool children - a lovely companion app to their other lovely maze app, Toddler Maze 123.

This app opens up to a boy and girl characters who need help finding their way down a yellow road lined with different maze choices. To select, drag these characters along the path to an area of interest, or just tap to select.

Children will notice the very nice level of difficulty these mazes have to offer, with some very novel elements sometimes added, such as needing to first follow the maze to a baby penguin that one must collect to continue on to the end of this penguin-themed maze, gather up a key before opening the treasure chest at the end of a pirate-themed activity or a super cute photo safari as one needs to maneuver one's way to cameras to take animal photos before completing this cute section.

Also unique are the mazes themselves, as one views these mazes from a bird's eye view as players drag a new character who may need to follow the dotted lines of a pirate maze, styled like a treasure map, a maze up in the sky as one navigates between billowy clouds or even through the glass maze of test tubes in a chemistry-themed maze, complete with colors to collect and mix before ending this mini-game.

Each section is bright and colorful, containing different yet always cheerful music to accompany each app.

I genuinely enjoyed seeing what fun details each new theme would contain as well as the surprise hot spots found along the way, adding richness to the experience but never to the point of distraction.

I think the difficulty level of these mazes is spot on for preschool children, possibly even a little older into kindergarten or even the early grade school years as I enjoyed them myself.

These mazes do get progressively harder as one follows the path discovering new characters who star in each of these themes, but the music and warm, friendly style of this app create a calm, relaxed tone that let children work on these mazes at their own pace without any stresses involving scores or best times to beat.

Likewise, I appreciate that although a star is given to show that one has completed the area, a better time would not gain the two or three stars often found in other apps, nor are sticker prizes given. I sometimes feel dubious about needing to constantly reward children for finishing a game, as the app itself should be engaging enough that children will want to continue based on the quality of the game itself. Such is the case here.

I do also very much enjoy the ending of this app as all the characters met along the way sit together for a picnic - a scene that is charming to be sure and a very nice reward for completing this application.

Mazes are great for hand and eye coordination, problem solving and fine motor skills. This is a maze app that will delight children and their parents, content rich and lovingly styled and thoughtfully designed.

I have been a huge fan of GiggleUp apps for quite some time. They are uniformly of a very high quality as well as brightly colored with quite whimsical details. Do check out their prolific list of apps on iTunes. I am eager to see what new apps they develop next.

Whack A Bone is a wonderful app for iPad that is truly an educational delight, teaching about the anatomy of bones found in the human body.

Nicely sectioned into groups, users will learn about the bones that make up one’s core, such as cranium, sternum or vertebrae which is grouped here into three different categories - cervical, thoracic and lumbar, as well as the arm and leg bones, each consisting of its own section as well.

To play this pirate-themed anatomy game, place the bones from the different sections back to their rightful places inside a skeleton with the direction of a talking parrot whose attitude kids will find witty and fun.

It is also great that the entire skeleton is included, having players remember all of what they have been taught, including such differences as metacarpals vs. metatarsals as well as the correct placement of the different vertebrae included.

I appreciate that this is a great teaching aid for both those who need to study the bones in the human body including those new to this subject as the puzzle one fills in a labeled skeleton in the first half of these sections so that players will learn as they go.

Next, the parrot will quiz users on these bones by naming bones that need to be tapped as quickly as possible, and if successful, a bronze, silver or gold star is given based on speed.

I have had some issues with accuracy as I may tap the ribs when I was aiming for clavicle, and these mistakes are compounded by being timed.

Because of this, it would be great if the timer aspect of this app could be removed as an option, although I did like that if the player seems stuck during the quiz, the bone in question was highlighted to help. These answers, however, are not credited towards getting these bones as correct answers, and players are asked at the end to place the incorrect bones back where they belong and then need to re-build the bone puzzles again before being re-quizzed.

Although the adult human body consists of 206 bones, this app condenses the number being taught down to 24, with eight bones to learn per section - a very nice amount of information for children as well as adults to study.

This app is undeniably an excellent way to help students of all ages learn this information. The pirate theme is well-done and nicely stylized without getting in the way of what is being taught, and the salty attitude of the parrot keeps this game light and fun with just the right amount of competition that will be appealing to grade school children who otherwise may not been keen on studying the same topic over and over again.

I also appreciate that the music - ambient sound effects and parrot voice volume - can be adjusted independently.

I have certainly learned what has been taught within Whack a Bone, and I do wish this app were available when I was learning about anatomy as well, and I would love to see more educational apps like this developed in the future.

Herd Absurd! Mix, Match and Collect is a charming toddler app that adults and older siblings will enjoy as well.

Herd Absurd! is a mix and match slider game where children can scroll through various head, torso with arms as well as bottom and leg sections of many different animals.

This is not a unique concept among applications, but Herd Absurd is a stand-out in a sea of apps such as this with its use of bright and bold colors and whimsically stylized animals.

Hot spots are included on each slider, animating the arms, legs and head of these creatures, creating a cause-and-effect that children will be delighted about as well as intriguing enough for adults and older children to enjoy exploring.

Do pull down the window at the top of the screen to show the animals that one is being asked to create, making this a goal-oriented game with memory elements as well as a free play app allowing children to mix and match different animal parts to their hearts' content.

Also included on the pull down window are the other animals included in this app that children will be asked to combine. For each right answer, a sticker is added to their corresponding spot to make each animal found as complete - also a nice touch that will allow children to feel success as they complete these animal slider puzzles.

When each animal is combined, music and colors are used to congratulate players as well as super-cute if not a little bit cheeky animated moments which are included that I find entertaining and delightful.

As an adult I have had more fun with Herd Absurd! than I expected, and I think toddlers as well as older children will adore this app as well.