Learn how food is produced in Dr. Panda Farm
Have you ever wondered what it is like to run your own farm? Head on down to Dr. Panda Farm to find out. In this new interactive app, discover 6 fun farming activities that allow kids of all ages to learn more about the country life and food production.
A Fun Farm Game for Kids
When you first open the app, you will see a farm complex consisting of a market surrounded by several empty lots. The market is where farm goods are stored before they are sold to eager customers. For every good sold, you get building tools to expand your farm and unlock more activities.
Just like a real business, the key to have happy customers is to keep your market stocked with various goods in abundant quantity. This requires you to constantly cycle through the available activities to plant, harvest, and produce new goods. Fortunately, your customers are patient and will wait for you to come back.
In all, there are six kinds of goods you can produce: bread, milk, jam, honey, eggs, and salad. Each good is processed in a different lot/facility around the market. Note that you can only make 5 of the same product at a time, so if you want to stock up on a certain item you will need to come back to the facility several times.
Sell your fresh goods at the shop and earn building tools to expand your farm
6 Activities on the Farm
The first activity you will unlock is the wheat farm, where you explore the process of making bread. You start by watering and harvesting the crop, then grinding the wheat into flour at the mill. Afterwards, you send the flour to the baker who kneads it into a dough. Finally, you put the dough in the oven to bake for a quick second before sending the freshly-baked loaves to Dr. Panda.
Once you have earned enough tools from selling bread, you can choose which activity you want to unlock next. Note that the cost of unlocking an activity increases over time, so you will need to sell more products before you can fully expand your farm. In the following text I explain the other activities you can unlock in Dr. Panda Farm:
Honey Farm. To make honey, first you have to grow flowers by tapping the seeds in the flower patch. Once the flowers have bloomed, the worker bees will collect the nectar to build a honeycomb. You place each honey-filled comb to the machine to extract the honey into a jar, then drag the jar onto the conveyor belt for pickup.
Fruit Farm. Jams are made the traditional way in Dr. Panda farm. Freshly-picked fruits and berries are crushed by foot, then cooked in a pot. You stir the pot to get the juices flowing into a jar and cover it with a lid. You can also add some sugar if you like.
Dairy Farm. At the dairy farm, you get three cows that will produce milk after they are cleaned and fed. The milk is then pasteurized and packaged in bottles. You can choose the flavor for each bottle: full cream, strawberry, or chocolate.
Chicken Farm. You can collect eggs at the chicken farm, by tapping each hen you see. One thing to remember is to be quick, otherwise the eggs will hatch into chicks. Once you have collected enough eggs, simply drag them into the carton for easy transport.
Vegetable Patch. Fresh salads are delicious, and at the vegetable patch you can prepare your own. Simply pick the veggies you like and drag them to the chopping board to cut them into pieces. Then, add some dressing and toss to coat.
Parents Need to Know
Dr. Panda Farm supports multitouch. The activities, too, have been designed to allow more than one person to play together on the same device. For example, in the bread-making activity, one player can grow wheat while the other spins the mill to make flour. This makes the app fun not only for preschoolers, but also for older kids and grown-ups.
Dr. Panda Farm is safe for kids. It doesn't have any in-app purchases, third-party adverts, or unprotected links to external sites. Because all the contents are included with the initial download, you don't need Internet connection to play.
As ever with Dr. Panda apps, Dr. Panda Farm has lots of secrets and funny moments to discover
Things I Like
Dr. Panda Farm is really well made. I love the papercraft-inspired artwork, the warm color palette, and the low-key background music. The interface is simple enough for young kids to work out on their own, plus it is text-free so no reading is required to play.
As ever with Dr. Panda apps, Dr. Panda Farm has lots of secrets to discover. While at the dairy farm, for example, you might be visited by a UFO that tries (and fails) to abduct your cows. Another secret that I love is how you can tap on various items throughout the farm to have Hoopa (in his construction worker gear) take them to the farmer market.
Beyond the fun gameplay, the app is actually useful for introducing kids to farming and food production. Through the carefully designed activities they'll learn where local food comes from and what steps are necessary to get them. Hopefully, this newfound knowledge will help kids gain more appreciation for the food on their table.
Expand your farm and unlock more activities
Conclusion
If your child loves animals and farm games, Dr. Panda Farm will delight them for hours on end. It's fun and easy to play, plus it's really cute. Each activity has been designed to teach kids about the hard work that goes into putting food on the table, but in a way that is easy to understand. Overall, it's highly recommended for ages 5 and below.
Get it on the App Store: iPhone | iPad
App was provided for our honest review.
About Dr. Panda
Dr. Panda develops games with educational values that help kids learn about the world. All of their games are safe and do not contain inappropriate content, in-app purchases, or any third-party advertising.
Check out their other apps we’ve reviewed:
Dr. Panda Racers balances fun and creativity in an exciting racing game suitable for ages 5 and under. With a cast of familiar characters, gorgeous animation, and fun rewards, the app is a must-have for any Dr. Panda fan.
Link: Download on the App Store | Our Review
Dr. Panda School lets kids be in charge of their creativity and imagination as they tour a virtual school filled with tons of interactive surprises. The open-ended gameplay encourages discovery and experimentation while keeping things stress-free. There is also plenty of room for storytelling as kids try out various roles from student to teacher to janitor.
Link: Download on the App Store | Our Review
