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| iPushFit Jigsaw Lite (Age 3+) | |||||||||||
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| iPushFit Jigsaw (Age 3+) | |||||||||||
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Big-T (3yo boy) loves jigsaw puzzles. He has lots of real ones, plus I have collected a few different jigsaw puzzle like iPhone aps now. This one he started off not liking (too hard), but after a bit of practice and encouragement he now really enjoys. There was a few weeks where this was definitely the app of choice.
This is not a trivial jigsaw puzzle – it was not designed specifically for preschool children. But there is a ‘hint’ button and after playing the same images a few times with Dad, Big-T has started picking up techniques to solve the puzzles and has probably memorized where the various pieces go for a few of the photos he is now good at.
Note: there are some really hard puzzles. Some are more like abstract art than a picture, so you get almost no clues from the image when putting it together. Far too hard for a preschooler. (Too hard for me as well!)
The Application
You pick one of several photos (the full version has more photos, plus you can pick from your own photos instead of one of the supplied ones). The bottom part of the screen has a wooden board with a series of pieces on it. The pieces are parts of the photo, like you had taken scissors to the photo and chopped it into various pieces. (Its not like a normal jigsaw with noggins and cutouts – the pieces all have completely straight edges.) You have to drag pieces from the bottom area (which scrolls horizontally to hold all the pieces) up to the top area and position them all correctly to make up the overall picture.
The Good
- Its a nicely put together application.
- Pieces snap into a grid – you don’t have to manually position the pieces to pixel level accuracy.
- Its quite nice the way when you slide pieces from the bottom board up to the top area the piece resizes gracefully. (The same happens when you drag the piece back to the bottom board.) There are a few touches like this that make it add up to a nicely thought out app.
- The horizontal scroll through pieces was easy for Big-T to pick up.
- There is a hint button, so you can sneak a look at what it should end up like.
- It encourages logical spatial thinking (like most jigsaw puzzles).
- You can quit and restart and it remembers where you were up to (which is great for short little attention spans).
The Bad
- From the perspective of a preschool child, the timing of solving puzzles just adds unnecessary complexity to the application. Its really there for older children/adults.
- Personal taste – the woodgrain on the board at the bottom always jarred with me. Something about the color and texture that did not fit in with the rest of the user interface style and colors. Not a big deal, but I always notice it.
- Its not designed for preschoolers – so includes some hard puzzles, which my boy then has a go at and gets completely frustrated when he (and his father) cannot do them.
Educational Value
I think puzzle games do help excercise the mind and develop logical thinking. I suspect for my boy its also a bit of a memory game – remembering where pieces went last time when he played with Dad. But memory games are useful too. The app does not teach any concepts – it just exercises the mind.
My Score
4 stars. Its good quality, I think it does help develop the mind, but 3yo likes it, but it is hard to start with for youngsers and the educational merit, while positive, is limited.
Get it in iTunes
More information, screen shots, and user reviews can be found in the iTunes store.
Other Suggestions
- Jigsaw Puzzle: Elephant Song, Shape Builder – the Preschool Learning Puzzle Game
- Matching: Elephant Song, Memory Match, Preschool Adventure, Shape Builder – the Preschool Learning Puzzle Game, ABC Match, Animal SNAP!
- Shapes: Preschool Adventure, Shape Builder – the Preschool Learning Puzzle Game, I See Ewe – Animal Sounds for Toddlers, Toddler Teasers Shapes
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