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Toddler wooden puzzle roundup for the iPad

by Sang Tang Aug 12th 2010 at 2:00AM

There's nothing like walking around in the middle of the night and stepping on the knob of a wooden puzzle piece. It kind of hurts. Believe me, it's happened to me on many an occasion, and it has resulted in firetruck and dinosaur-like imprints on my feet.

If you're tired of stepping on puzzle pieces, having puzzle pieces go missing -- and if your toddler is tired of doing the same puzzles over and over -- you may want to consider some puzzle alternatives on the App Store.

While I'm obviously too old to be doing wooden knob puzzles, my 18-month-old nephew isn't. So, these observations are based, in part, on his interactions with the apps and a sit-down we had over a bottle of milk to discuss them.

At the top of the list are Wood Puzzle HD (US$0.99) and My first puzzles HD (US$1.99). What stands out about these two in particular is the number (and variety) of puzzles that they both offer. Wood Puzzle HD comes with 15 puzzles, which include animals, people, shapes, and other objects. In contrast, the puzzles in My first puzzles HD are all of animals or wildlife.

With few exceptions, the user (err, toddler) interaction of both apps is similar; there's only so much that you can do when a puzzle piece fits into an empty space. One neat thing about Wood Puzzle HD, however, is that shaking your iPad scrambles the puzzle. And on My first puzzles HD, when a puzzle piece is placed in the correct spot, the piece is magnified and accompanied by applause.

Kids Puzzle provides feedback similar to that of My first puzzles HD. While it's difficult to complain about paying $0.99 for a wooden puzzle app, and for a baby no less, the value that Wood Puzzle HD and My first puzzles HD provide make them both stand ahead of Kids Puzzle (as well as other apps in the genre). Kids Puzzle comes with only one puzzle, which pales in comparison to Wood Puzzle HD and My first puzzles HD.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't include an iPhone app in a roundup of this sort. This would be like putting bacon strips in a peanut butter sandwich. But hey, a peanut butter and bacon sandwich is good in certain situations.

Likewise, despite being formatted for the iPhone's screen, the Thomas Game Pack (US$2.99) works well on the iPad's screen in 2X mode. As implied in its name, the app features every baby's favorite train, Thomas the Train, as well as his favorite friends. Each of the wooden puzzles are in the shape of Thomas and his friends (Emily, James, Percy, etc.). In addition to wooden puzzles, there's a matching game and a cargo maze. If your baby is a Thomas fan, he'll love this app.

While the tangible feel and interaction with physical puzzle pieces bring immeasurable qualities, they come at a price. Let's face it, wooden knob-based puzzles can become quite costly, and there's a chance that a piece or two might go missing. Given their fairly reasonable prices, iOS-based alternatives are a good complement to their physical counterparts.



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There's nothing like walking around in the middle of the night and stepping on the knob of a wooden puzzle piece. It kind of hurts....
 

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t allen

ugh...apps like these are not good for children's development. They need to experience real tactile sensation and 3-D manipulation. The only thing that this would be good for is keeping your child occupied in situations where you need them to be quite. Otherwise children should be using real toys.

August 19 2010 at 8:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gregory

My son likes Tozzle the best. This is a little more intersting than a wooden puzzle, I think, because as parts of the puzzle is completed, extra layers are added. i.e. you build the engine of a train, then it pulls forward. You complete an inside view of the passenger car showing the passengers, then add the outside of the train, that pulls forward, etc.

August 16 2010 at 9:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jt2552

Thanks all of you for the nice suggestions. My 3 year old will appreciate the new games I have for her to play on our upcoming plane ride.

August 12 2010 at 4:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jason

My two year old (just turned two last month) loves to play with my iPad and iPhone. On the iPad she navigates it perfectly. I loaded up a ton of Sesame Street videos for her and she goes right to it. It's not like she's jabbing at the screen, she really knows how to get to her apps, pics, and videos. If you haven't tried the " Talking Tom" like apps yet. Get one. My daughter loves them. She gets to interact with it, and she will say something, and it says it right back. Very simple to us, but very fun for kids. Peek-a-Boo Wild and Safari are great apps too for car rides.

Just a side note to parents. There are times when my wife and I are at families house and we don't have a monitor, there are two apps in the app store I'll suggest for that. Baby Phone and Baby Monitor. (iPhone only) They both do the same thing. Give it a number to call, and when it hears the baby cry, it calls that number. It's for those "just incase moments". Or if you have a baby. What a great time we live in.........

August 12 2010 at 4:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jeffrey

My 14 month old son does the same thing (pressing the home button and swiping to unlock!).

We found the Build a Word app from WordWorld on the iPhone (but I synced it to our iPad) and he *loves* playing that -- he isn't to the point where he can drag the letters, but he loves to push them together to create the characters, and then shake the iPad (yes, I was very nervous at first!) to go to the next word...

We also found I Hear Ewe, which is a *great* flashcard/animal sound app...

I'll check back on the comment thread to see if there are any other suggestions -- thank you for this article!

August 12 2010 at 12:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Christopher G.

Except my 15-month old nephew prefers pressing the physical home button (thus closing the opened app) more than he does interacting with the touchscreen. But the darn kid did figure out how to swipe-to-unlock the device -- smart kid.

August 12 2010 at 11:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Erik

But let's not forget that one of the main reasons we give these to kids is so they can develop their coordination an spatial abilities. Which will probably won't be the same than a 2D representation on a screen.

You still have to let them play will real concrete objects.

August 12 2010 at 9:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Erik's comment
Charli

Well that is probably true. But when you need something to keep a kid buzy on a plane etc, games like these on an ipad are easier to carry around and better than nothing.

August 21 2010 at 11:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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