Elastic World

A ball in motion tends to stay in motion—if you know what you're doing! Shapes that expand and contract with a touch let kids bounce balls around to grasp basic laws of physics. The interface is clean, graphically appealing and easy to understand; it’s simply made up of blobs and balls.

Budding Einsteins must manipulate the shapes to move the balls towards the goal; in level one, kids must manipulate rolling and swelling shapes to move the balls towards a floating star. Hit the star, and children gain points and unlock levels. Complex physics concepts are simplified in an engaging, age-appropriate way for this age set—just drop and drag with no math involved. Most concepts are made simple here, but this app has a few critical issues.

The easy-to-use interface is great, but in the free version, the game controls were a little inconsistent, which defeats the purpose of illustrating real life physics. The games are harder than they look and require a lot of patience. Kids can also get "trapped"—if a level proves too difficult, there's no home button. When the fluid forms work as advertised however, this app can be a unique and challenging experience for budding third-grade physicists and science lovers alike.