Oink Oink � My Crazy Farm

$2.99, iPad, iPhone, Android (124 MB)

Teaches: spatial relations, logic, math, geometry

CTR Rating: 92%

CTR Review

Ravensburger, the German company known for quality jigsaw puzzles, has yet to impress us with an app... until now. Here's a fast-paced, addicting logic puzzle that makes a game out of lines, and geometric shapes, by turning lines into fences around wandering animals. The idea is to herd them into a small area by making progressively smaller pens, one slice at a time. Because you can only draw straight lines and your fence line can't touch any of the animals, some planning is required, and you have to act quickly in order to get the animals to your goal. Like many apps these days, the better you do, the harder the challenge, and you have to unlock the levels one at a time. We made it through the first 20 of 70 levels, and found a nice variety of interesting twists. Progress is saved automatically, and the app uses Apple's Game Center to keep a public leaderboard. The easy levels are within reach of children as young as Kindergarten, but the challenge levels rise quickly. There are no ads and no in-app purchases, and little or no language skills are required to use the app (menus are in English; French; German; Italian; Portuguese; Russian; Simplified Chinese; Spanish; and Swedish).