What we love…
fun train themed app with great sound effects that encourages role play, creative play, counting and more
What we’d love to see…
ability to back the train up, a ticket that displays the passengers destination visually, other methods to power the train or even a subway
Summary
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Our Rating
Dr. Panda Train is here – Dr. Panda Games is back this time with a train theme! In this fun themed train app your kids serve as conductor and they drive the train and tour one of three landscapes which includes jungle, desert and a beautiful countryside scene.
Dr. Panda Train the app- Your child can drive the train either from a first person perspective inside the cab or from a distance. They also can stop and visit the passengers to give them food, snacks, reading material and more. My son even found some great tech to give the passengers. Shovel on some coal to stoke the fire and make the train go faster to it’s next destination or simply blow the horn as the countryside goes by. I liked that my kids could take turns playing with the app or putting passengers on and handing out items to them. As you complete more of the game you earn extra items to give to the passengers – my kids favorites were of course the tech!
My kids also loved loading the cargo and carrying it from station to station. While we loaded it we practiced counting or even deciding which item to load first – should we load the jelly beans or the chicken? What happens if we don’t load any cargo. I loved their responses which ranged from – “the passengers will be sad” to “will the chicken lay an egg?”
My toddler loved speeding up the train within the app or making it slower which shows cause and effect – although that concept was a bit difficult to explain. As you get to each station stop, a thought bubble pops up looking for a specific passenger or item to be loaded on the train. There is a maximum of four passengers, so if you have more, someone extra must exit the train prior to it moving. Safety first!
As a mom, I loved that there was great role playing – should we be the conductor, the passenger or the person loading the cargo. 
Tell me about their job. What happens if there are too many passengers, how do we decide who gets on? It was great for storytelling and having my older son describe his actions within the app. At the station, it was great to unload the cargo and then pass it along to the proper recipients like the pig who wanted the chicken.
Each time you complete a task, you earn additional items to play with in the game which made my kids want to play more and more to see what else they would earn. There are twelve different train stations throughout. My son also enjoyed dinging the bell
In terms of enhancements, it would be fun if each passenger had to submit a ticket prior to getting on the train which would get stamped with their destination, currently once they are on the train you can punch the ticket but it does not show the destination. That way, kids could prepare for which station they are getting off at.
My son also wanted to “back up” the train a few times to go back and look at scenery or to pick up something he might have missed. I would also love to see other methods for powering the train – perhaps it could be electric and run on above ground power like the T does in Boston or maybe it could run like the subway does with a third rail. My kids also thought it would be fun if each of the train stops coincided with other Dr. Panda Games like Daycare, Firefighter, Home etc.
There are no in-app purchases and there is a parental gate which requires year of birth. You can turn off a splash screen which advertises other Dr. Panda apps in the parent area as well as turn on and off music and sound. Super fun themed app that kept my toddler enthralled for hours. He kept finding little secret items and enjoyed loading and off loading the cargo. Bravo Dr. Panda – or should that be Toot Toot! Can’t wait to see what else you have planned in the future.
By Alison….( I am the girl in the blue dress)