Common Sense Media Review
By Mieke VanderBorght
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Simple puzzles with pizazz come alive with animated scenery.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Action Puzzle
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
Choose from four scenes to get started with ACTION PUZZLE: city, airport, car race, and port. Divide the puzzle into 12, 20, 30, or 48 pieces, and then tap play to break up the animated scene. Kids get two pieces at a time to tap and drag into place. The animated tiles continuously show movement, and when the puzzle is complete, tap play to adjust the perspective and see an additional portion of the animated scene. Each scene has four perspectives that unlock as kids complete puzzles. Choose also to rotate puzzle pieces or to play in right-hand or left-hand mode.
Is It Any Good?
The animation in these digital puzzles adds a bit of excitement to an otherwise standard puzzle game. There isn't much going on in the animations, but it's fun to watch planes take off, lights go out, and cars drive around. Also, the graphics are really nice. Controls are smooth as pieces smoothly lock into place, and lefties even have a special mode of play that makes the app more responsive to their unique tap and drag movements. A handful of useful options include choosing how many pieces to break the puzzle into and whether kids want to rotate the pieces before placing them. That said, Action Puzzle is pretty simplistic and doesn't have much potential for repeat play. And presenting pieces only two at a time removes a good portion of the challenge in completing the puzzle. But for little kids who might enjoy an animated intro to puzzles -- or who want to do one on the go -- this is a great option.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the scenes in Action Puzzle. Ask kids to tell you a story about what's going on in each scene. Where is the plane going? Why?
Talk about on-screen vs. offscreen activities. Is it more fun to complete puzzles that have moving scenes? Why or why not?
Take learning and fun offscreen. Break out some traditional puzzles and make putting them together an activity for family fun time.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : part-whole relationships , solving puzzles , spatial reasoning
- Pricing structure : Free to try (free download includes limited content; unlock all content through in-purchase for $.99)
- Release date : April 24, 2019
- Genre : Family Games
- Topics : Transportation ( Cars & Trucks )
- Publisher : Joachim Mertens
- Version : 1.1
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 11.0 or later
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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