Build and Play 3D – Planes Special Edition App Review
App Info
Price: $0.99
Overview
Budding aviators and engineers will have a blast putting together a series of brightly colored airplanes. Once they’re complete, they become amateur pilots, collecting stars as they fly them through the air and attempt to avoid birds. This special edition not only helps kids get to experience a variety of plane styles and a fun flying experience, it also helps them develop motor control while still having a ton of fun.
Features include:
- Animated airplanes
- Multiple planes to build
- Fun flying game
- Airplane sounds
Quality
Kids will find themselves whistling along with the catchy background tune as they go through the process of selecting and building a plane. Once in the air, they’ll feel as if they’re actually piloting the plane as they hear the wind whoosh by and the birds squawk when they accidentally fly into them. Aside from the entertaining sounds, kids will also get to interact with brightly colored 3D models of planes that truly look and feel like they’re gliding through the sky.
Education
While Build and Play 3D – Planes doesn’t focus on any major educational skills, the concepts involved in the building portion of the game can help kids gain an understanding of 3D shapes and the way shapes fit together to create different objects. Kids must use their knowledge of shapes to figure out where various parts fit on each airplane. Each airplane has a different design, too, which means kids get a lot of exposure to different shapes and shape combinations.
Entertainment
Kids won’t find a lot of variety in this game, at least not in the types of activities they can complete. However, they will find 10 different planes to put back together, including silly planes inspired by Santa Claus and his reindeer, a Dracula plane, and a witch plane. Once they successfully put together a plane they’ll also get the chance to fly the plane through the sky to collect stars. They’ll have to watch out for the birds though because hitting a bird means losing a star.
Value
While it wasn’t created by Disney and doesn’t feature the iconic planes from the movies, kids who love the airplane inspired Disney movies will also find themselves loving this app. Despite its lack of variety in the activities, parents will find its price more agreeable than most licensed apps based on the popular Disney franchise.
Child Friendliness
At first, kids may find it a bit tough to put together the airplane pieces. They’ll soon notice, however, that the app provides clues to help them know where to place the pieces. It uses additional nonverbal instructions to keep kids moving from the building process to the flying game. Once in the game, kids will find few distractions, but before they play they may be tempted to tap on the “Our Apps” box on the bottom right corner of the main screen. If they do, they’ll find a parental block keeps them from easily accessing the links to the other apps from the developer.
