Tiggly is one of the most interesting children’s apps companies we’ve spotted this year. It’s not just making apps though: it also makes physical toys – Tiggly Shapes – to use with them.

The company’s first three iPad apps are out now: Tiggly Stamp, Tiggly Draw and Tiggly Safari. They’re free to download and use with limited features, but to unlock the full apps you’ll need the Tiggly Shapes.

They’re currently being sold online for $29.99 for the pack of four shapes: a star, a circle, a triangle and a square. Tiggly says they’ll soon be in Apple stores and other retailers though, aimed at children between 18 months and four years old.

The video above explains the general concept, as does the App Store listing for each app: “Children explore geometric shapes and spatial relations by manipulating physical geometric blocks while interacting with their digital creation.”

Tiggly Stamp involves creating “seasonally themed scenes”, with the four basic shapes combining together to form more than 80 animals, fruits and objects. There’s also a recording option to create a tale by moving the shapes around and telling a story about them.

Tiggly Draw is similarly creative, except here it’s about creating digital artworks and/or characters, complete with eyes, mouths and hats. There’s also a musical section where kids can create a tune using their shapes.

Tiggly Safari takes an animal spin on things, still with the four basic shapes, as kids look around the scene to discover different beasts, and then create their own using the shapes.

For more on the science and ambitions behind Tiggly, read this blog post from the company’s chief learning officer Azi Jamalian:

“We designed each level in the game based on what we know about children’s spatial cognition development and more specifically on their knowledge of 2D shape recognition,” she explains.

We’re hopefully getting our hands on some Tiggly Shapes imminently to do a proper review, but all three apps let you play with some of their features without those, so give them a try and see what you think.