Best Apps for Toddlers 2012 (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

There are hundreds of iPad , iPod touch and iPhone apps for toddlers that can be fun and educational at the same time. Almost all the apps cost less than a packet of crisps so they can be extremely good value for money.

The first time you see a toddler zipping around on your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch screen as if it was the most natural thing in the world really goes to show just how intuitive the touch screen can be and what possibilities can open up now and or in the future as your child gets older. Just make sure their hands are clean and sit them down somewhere.

If you're worried about your toddler dropping your iPhone / iPod touch make sure the floor isn't hard i.e a carpet or a bed.

All the top apps for toddlers below have been selected on there ease of use, value and most importantly... fun!

Educational app for toddlers - great for learning colors and numbers

This app involves filling up the Monkey's lunch box up with fruit. This is done by completing a never ending repetition of fun mini-games. The games are very simple and involve tasks such as clicking on the fruit that is yellow (good for color recognition) or clicking on the fruit to count them. Its easy for a toddler to use as the cute monkey explains everything to them. Every so often the game lets them select a fun 'sticker' to stick on a pin board. This doesn't sound like much but they can keep adding to it and I found that my toddler son actually found this the best bit. The pictures are nice and bright and its quickly became one of my sons favorites.

More Monkey Preschool Lunchbox Reviews on Itunes.

Here are a selection of free apss for toddlers

Toddler App for Math and Numbers

A return for the cute little monkey but this time the subject is math. Well very simple math for toddlers and pre-schoolers. It follows the same theme as above but this time it revolves around numbers. Nothing too hard and its an excellent way to get them interested in numbers.The games include which number is the largest or what comes next in the simple sequence. There is quite a variety. Its all very bright and fun and this time you get to collect different types of fish and accessories to fill their very own aquarium. The game just keeps on looping by choosing random games and doesn't punish for wrong answers. Cute, fun, clever and well made so I have to recommend it.

See more Monkey Math School Sunshine Reviews

App for learning shapes

Shape builder is one of the first apps that showed me just how much fun a toddler could have with an iPhone. They have to drag small colored shapes with their finger into the correct position which fit together to make a picture a bit like a jigsaw. You'll probably be surprised at just how quickly your young one will soon start to move the pieces into place. They will be motivated to complete each image because it can be exciting for them to try and work out what the shape is. Once the piece has been placed with a satisfying click the shape is revealed with a cute bright well drawn picture and a nice sound effect. There are also plenty of images that just come one after the other and I found that my son just loved it and it keep his attention. It also includes numbers and letters and helps improve the spacial recognition skills. You might even find yourself having a quick go...

See more Shape builder preschool learning reviews

Introduce your toddler to writing!

I love this app as it showed me just how much a touch screen device could aid toddler learning while being fun.

As well as simple words and individual letters iwrite words lets the toddler write numbers up to 20.

Once you have selected a category, they have to trace each one in succession by putting there finger on the small crab which lets them know when to start. Then they follow the arrows that appear. If they make a mistake or go off track they have to go back to the last bit they did to correct it. You can adjust the forgiveness so you can increase the difficulty as their skill increases. The way they have to draw the letters are the same as they will be taught in school so its an excellent way to introduce them to writing with out the frustration of learning to hold a pen first.

When thay have to write words it spells them out after and the displays a cute picture that children themselves have drawn. Then thay have to tilt the phone so the letters fall towards a black hole where teay get sucked in. You can turn this feature off if you don't want them tilting the phone. You can even playback all the letters thay have written so they can see how well thay have done. Excellent!

Buy iWriteWords

They have probably heard the song and it might even be a favorite. This delightful app plays the music while toddlers have to select an animal by spinning a wheel around with their finger. Once selected the singing carries on and its quite funny when they select an animal that doesn't appear on a farm. The record scratches to a halt and says something like "an octopus doesn't belong on farm they belong in the ocean" and then a tractor pulls them of or the get kicked by a donkey(?). They can place the correct guessed animal on the farm. Its funny and introduces them to other animals and the habitats as well. My children love this app.

Get the Old Macdonald Farm app

Read more on iphone apps for toddlers by following these links.