My son loves "Jelly Car", and actually knew "Jelly Car 2" was available before I did. I never thought my 6 year old would be telling ME about apps!

And even though he is in kindergarten he gets a lot of homework - some of which requires making up word flashcards. I've been creating cards in "Flashcards Deluxe" and since it's on the iPhone to him it's just another game. Challenging and FUN!

Thanks @mhalberg ! - here's the link to Jelly Car: http://www.appolicious.com/apps/jellycar-walaber-::25481 you can actually put these in your posts --

Al

Our 3 1/2 year old is a big fan of FiveMonkeys. It doesn't do much but he likes pushing the buttons and bouncing the monkeys on the floor. Catching the food on Grover's Number Special has also been a hit. Our 6 year old loves Sketches and Colorama. AnimalMatch was fun for about a day.

Would love a suggestion if anyone has an app that is the equivalent of those "choose your own story" books where at the end of the page you make a choice and go the right page number. Would love something that engages a little reader.

I am a big fan of iWriteWords. It's a brilliant little app that helps the pre-K crowd learn to write alphabet letters using the proper strokes while learning simple words. Hands down the best learning app I have seen to date.

Thanks all for your recommendations!

We are HUGE fans of Flick fishing!! I like the soothing sounds of the water and the flickering light it provides.

Will have to try that! Thanks Anne!

I still have the original iPhone, so I don't have all the features of the latest ones. A couple years ago, our daughter (who is now 5) exclusively played games like Jirbo Match, Jirbo Jam and Little White Bear Studio TanZen. Sometimes she would doodle in LateNightSoft Sketches. She also enjoyed any of the virtual instruments like the Smule Ocarina and Discovolos Kalimba and MooCowMusic Pianist. She will still play with all of these occasionally, but not as often. She does not require constant distraction on car rides as she used to.

Now she also occasionally plays word games like anusem.com Word Magic and Matthew Tippett's Wordex. We also will sometimes play games together like quetouch.com Parking Lot and a couple of the easier Freeverse Big Bang Board Games.

For our daughter, playing on the iPhone is a diversion rather than an activity in itself. She'll ask for it when she is stuck somewhere and bored, like the car or an office.

We're fans of Doodle Buddy. It's a fun app that let's us be creative very easily. Basically you 'paint' with your fingers and have a selection of fun stamps to put on your art piece. My 8 year old boy loves he can draw fun monsters in a snap!

We also love the Wholefoods app, not really designed for kids, but the search wheel helps us prepare for the shopping trip to the store and have fun planning the week's cooking-

Thanks Mike and Yunilda - great recommendations!

My Little Suitcase is a great app for toddlers. Kids can choose out what to pack for different scenarios. So exciting and educational if you are getting ready for a trip, and exciting too even if it is just pretend!

lmattke, thanks for letting us know about My Little Suitcase - I linked to its review page on Appolicious so people interested can find out more info.

Great article on the best iPhone apps for toddlers:
http://callapidderdays.com/2009/10/iphone-apps-for-toddlerspreschoolers.html

I HATE letting my girls use my iPhone ... that said I am known to let them play Spore. Ok, technically it's not a kid app but it's very kid friendly.

The Apple Store sells a very nice screen cleaner that works wonders after grubby little fingers have touched the iPhone...;-)

I wont put it on my iPhone, because I wont get my phone back, but my son's favorite is pocket god!

Pocket God sounds like fun - we'll have to try it.

http://www.appolicious.com/apps/pocket-god-bolt-creative-::13650

Interesting article about why an iPhone could actually be good for your 3-yr-old:

http://www.boston.com/community/moms/articles/2009/11/01/why_an_iphone_could_actually_be_good_for_your_3_year_old/

I've just bought a really great app for my 6 year old nice - it's the app by Anorak magazine and she absolutely loves it! (I downloaded it out of desperation at 5.30am when she decided to wake up and not go back to sleep again - it kept her entertained for quite some time...). Her favourite things on the app are the games like 'Whack Anorak' and the drawing / colouring in pages. It was good value too at £1.19

Please check iStoryNarrator and iCrazyDog for kids.

http://www.iphoneapp4fun.com/Apps/iStoryNarrator/

http://www.iphoneapp4fun.com/Apps/iCrazyDog/

I'd suggest taking a look at Tickle Tap Apps - http://www.tickletapapps.com

I helped work on these apps and I think you'll find they are well thought-out and carefully designed.

My favorite children's app is: Match and Learn. It;s an educational app that is actually lots of fun. Unlike your regular match game, this one teaches you words in different languages (like Spanish), & has tons of difficulty levels, so its the one app thats perfect for my 3 year old & my 8 year old. There's currently a holiday edition out which is adorable. Another holiday fav is Grinchmas, which is so much fun too.

Though not toddler-friendly, iSchoolMapper allows parents to learn about local neighborhood schools. Great for researching school performance, diversity, and other school attributes: http://www.appolicious.com/apps/ischoolmapper-verticalcurve-llc-::83144

I really think parents, and kids would very much like our MatchMatch app. There is no violence, and the game actually exercises your brain which it entertains you.

It's a seemingly simple game of matching colorful targets, but as the game progresses, it becomes more intriguing!

Try it. It's FREE!

http://itunes.com/app/matchmatch

I'm one of the developers of Monkey Preschool Lunchbox, a pretty popular iphone app for the toddler set which has been featured by Apple. We've got a new game out now called Monkey Preschool: When I Grow Up. It's an open-ended, imagination-oriented game. Kids dress up their monkeys in different uniforms and outfits to create different scenes with a bunch of different fun interactive props.

You can check out both games here:
http://www.monkeypreschool.com/

Would love to hear what people think!

Parents - check this out - iSpy is now an iPhone game:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/22/ispy-iphone/

I'm the developer of the new Face Race: A camera-based party game for iPhone. Using the camera on the iPhone, the game prompts you to make six different expressions chosen from a random list of over 1,000. Then another player takes the same six photos, and then everyone else gets to vote on which ones they think are the funniest!

It's targeted at kids (and adults) a bit older than toddler, but is definitely a riot to play with kids. They really aren't afraid to be silly, and it's quite amusing to see what they come up with sometimes!

See it on iTunes here: http://weheartgames.com/getfacerace/

Thanks weheartgames! I'm going to try that out with my favorite 6-year-old.

Hello!

We are two aunts that develop educational interactive storybook apps designed for kids between the ages of 2 and 5. Our first app, The Rescue of Ginger, is a 20 page story about two best friends, Madera Monkey and Figaro Frog, who help Mrs. Applebottom find her missing cat Ginger. The two best friends use their super powers and inquisitive personalities to unravel the clues. With your child's help, they find Ginger and bring her back home safe and sound.

The story has more than 100 elements to click on and encourage learning numbers, colors, shapes, and sizes. Your child will enjoy boogying with the dancing mice, laughing at Figaro walking on walls, and exploring the many other silly animated characters!

For more info visit
http://www.appolicious.com/apps/madera-figaro-in-the-rescue-of-ginger-lyn-and-line-llc-::119795

Let us know what your kids think and Happy New Years!

Caroline & Carolyn
http://www.lynandline.com

Thanks for letting us know Caroline and Carolyn! Happy New Year to you too!

Checkout our pattern recognition series apps for kids. They were in top 100 in education category and one of them is still in top 100 for last 13 days, after its release...

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/a-preschool-pattern-recognition/id344973598?mt=8

Other apps can be found at -> http://apps.nthfusion.com

-Nth Fusion

Another fun 'kids game' that came out this week is Bugs & Bubbles: http://www.appolicious.com/apps/156673-bugs-bubbles-floating-cube-studios

It has storybook graphics and simple (yet challenging) gameplay, tilt and touch controls.

What are the best math apps for kids? My 6-yr-old son loves doing math on the iPhone and I want to encourage this. Just downloaded Math Cards. Other apps to try?

I have some apps that teach the basic algorithms. They are just like doing the algorithms on paper but with animations. Feedback has been very positive.

Hi there! Check out number sense....am sure your son would love it! http://punflay.com/number-sense.html

Thanks - I'll have to check out those math apps!

Shara

Tap into the best storybook phone apps -- USAToday.com

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/jinnygudmundsen/2010-03-18-storybook-apps_N.htm

Hey I checked out this link
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/jinnygudmundsen
/2010-03-18-storybook-apps_N.htm
its really cool! thanks!

Thanks lynandline - interesting article about storybook apps. Nice mention of Madera & Figaro in The Rescue of Ginger.

Madera & Figaro Save The Day now available on App Store!!!!

Save The Day is the second adventure in a series for our heroes, Madera Monkey and Figaro Frog. The first app in the series was featured in USATODAY.com and in the Android Market and won 2nd place for Best App For Pre-Schoolers, 2009 Best App Ever Awards.

Save The Day is one of the most interactive storybook apps on the App Store. The story was written to take advantage of the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch interactive technology. It features a mini paint program, draggable trucks, tractor, and helicopter, games to teach size, color, shape, and counting, wipe-the-screen-reveal game, game to catch animated fireflies, interactive blimps that recites the alphabet, hot air balloons that recite numbers, instruments that play melodies when clicked, and many more interactive elements.

Save The Day is a universal app (works on iPad/iPhone/iPod) and runs in HD on the iPad.

LIST OF ALL INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS: http://www.lynandline.com/products/savetheday/pagebypage
FULL DESCRIPTION: http://www.lynandline.com/products/savetheday/
SCREENSHOTS: http://www.lynandline.com/products/savetheday/screenshots.html
TEASER TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzC75UYeWxE
LINK TO APP STORE: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/madera-figaro-save-the-day/id370842004?mt=8

PRICE: $0.99

My niece loves Baby explorer....This app with its cute sounds and bright colors are a real treat! check out http://www.punflay.com/baby-explorer-appstore.html