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> I don't see Angry Birds being much different than doing a puzzle on the floor,

You're missing a huge part of tactile development going on when she's playing a puzzle on the floor vs. touching a flat surface. The fine motor skills involved with physically handling a puzzle will come in handy later, not to mention that there is an element of combining tactile response with mental strategy missing on the iPad.

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Yup, plus the style of recall for a puzzle is tree-like.

The puzzle is a "natural" form, that encourages "natural" skills. Whereas Angry Birds is an addictive game pattern. Any skills it "teaches" are incidental to its commercial goals.

My point is invalid if the whole entire world turns into a giant commercialized strip mall and recall no longer becomes a valued skill. :<

Angry Birds is just a single example (and one that has him interested in the physical versions). It's hardly the only option - plenty of creative puzzle apps, reading apps, etc. are available and a lot of them are quite good.

That said, I'd say Angry Birds has given my son a lot of practice in perseverance, problem solving, and not getting frustrated when something doesn't work first time.

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