Live Transport Puzzle for Kids is an Android app that teaches younger children motor skills, logical thinking and lets them have a little fun at the same time. Throughout the 33 different puzzles across 11 different scenes, children will be challenged to complete such logical puzzles as using certain vehicles on a building site to fill in a hole in the ground. On top of this, the puzzles are all interactive, and it gets kids familiar with the processes that go into such things as transporting cars from the factory, getting cargo onto a ship and a lot more. Many of the puzzles start off with a seemingly-simple jigsaw and evolve into something more logical. With artwork that feels straight out of a children’s book, Live Transport Puzzle for Kids seems to live up to its name, but let’s put it through its paces, shall we?
Just like other children’s apps and games, users will need to download Live Transport Puzzle for Kids. It’s a free app, and doesn’t appear to contain any ads that your little ones could accidentally tap and take them to a less-than-friendly website.
Once installed and launched, there’s a simple main menu that children will more than likely be able to use. For parents looking for some settings, they can press and hold the cogs into the top-right corner of the menu.
One thing that I think a lot of parents will appreciate here is how the game handles in-app purchases. They can only be found in this settings menu, and there is only one option here, which unlocks all of the other puzzles. It’s fairly reasonably-priced as well, I would say.
Of the 11 different scenes that are included here, 4 of them are free, while the rest of them can be purchased like this or sent to you as gifts from other users. With that out of the way, let’s go ahead and try a puzzle, shall we?
The one that I’ve chosen to take a look at, and show you how each puzzle and scene steadily evolves over time is the truck and car factory puzzle. This, like many of the scenes here, start off with a jigsaw puzzle, which once completed, reveals the rest of the overall scene for the player.
Each of the puzzles is interactive, and there will be pointers on screen to let kids know where they should tap next in order to progress. In this scenario, we have to tap the factory, to get a new car to come out, fresh off of the assembly line.
Players then need to move these cars – which are of different designs as well as different sizes – into the correct slot on the car moving truck. Once all of that is done, players will need to press the ramp at the back to make sure that it’s safe to move on. This is something that even I had to think about for a minute, and it all comes together to achieve the goal of teaching little ones some logical understanding of processes and how to approach a problem systemically.
You might have noticed that all of these puzzles appear to be a little on the masculine side of things, and that’s okay, because the developer makes no qualms about this being targeted towards boys, and while I wish there were a counterpart for the little ladies out there, it is what it is. Moving on to another puzzle, the Tetris gamer in me found the cargo ship puzzle a good one.
These are puzzles that are designed for boys and if there’s one thing all little men enjoy it’s playing out with the quintessential cars and vehicles they will have toys off or see on the TV in their favorite cartoons. Which is why it’s nice to see that Live Transport Puzzle for Kids has such a wide variety of them available.
The aim behind all of these puzzles is not only for little ones to have a little fun, but to subtly teach them logical thinking and how best to approach a problem in a systematic fashion. Each puzzle evolves from one completed part to another, and the interaction with certain vehicles and such means that kids will have to work towards their final reward, which is of course completing the puzzle and being able to start a new one. It’s not everyday that we see a puzzle game for kids like this one that genuinely gives players a great foundation of thought for later life. Being able to approach a situation and break it down into logical parts that must follow on from one another is an excellent skill to have, and this is a great app to make sure they start learning that nice and early on. The graphics look good, as if they were hand-painted and belong in a high-quality children’s book and while there could be more sound effects, there’s more than enough on off here for the little ones.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Live Transport Puzzle for Kids runs smoothly and the pacing of the game is well-suited to little ones that want to play the game on their own.
- Theme (4/5) – Visually, this is a good-looking game with some great artwork overall, with a soft paint-like feel to them. However, there’s not a huge amount of sound effects on offer, and it could do with some sort of background music.
- Features (4/5) – For the most part, this is an app that gives players a lot to love, and little ones will be able to pick up some logical thinking from this to make sure that they approach situations much better.
- Overall (4/5) – With some great-looking artwork and a good overall presentation, this is a game that children will find genuinely good fun, but will also make sure that they learn a thing or two and help with their cognitive development.
Pros
- Great way of keeping a child’s brain sharp at the end of the school day or for a light break when they think they’re getting to play a game.
- Super-simple controls for the toddlers out there, thanks to this they will be able to figure things out for themselves without any tears or frustration.
- Process of loading up a truck or making sure that the vehicle is repaired and works is something that a lot of parents will see value in and go towards nurturing the little ones’ cognitive development.
- Interactive puzzles start to come to life the more of them the kids complete, keeping them engaged as well as rewarding them for completing something.
Cons
- Background music would be nice to see as it would help to improve the atmosphere of the overall game.
- Names of the vehicles would be nice to see taught to the kids as they go about solving their problems.
It’s quite obvious that I am not a toddler from Live Transport Puzzle for Kids’ main audience, but I can understand and see why this will work so well for many little ones. It’s good-natured and easygoing fun that’s colorful and will appeal to all boys out there. On top of all of this, it can help support cognitive development by teaching them, albeit subtly, how to approach situations and how one thing follows on from another to complete the chain.