Love: Favorite Toddler iPad Apps

 I really like my iPad, but my child is what I would call passionate about the iPad. Sometimes she wakes up in the morning and the first words from her mouth are "iPad" and "muffin."
At first I was a little hesitant to let her play with it. I wasn't even worried about the obvious "toddlers break things" issue; I worried about what it might do to her brain. I even googled "toddler iPad brain" to find out if I was going to mess up the child. Her chants only got louder. "Hipad! Hipad! Hipad!" I finally decided there must be some way this little gadget could be an educational tool. I downloaded a Sesame Street episode about good eating habits and within a couple of days she was begging for yogurt instead of ice cream.Best of all, this iPad was God's gift to parents on road trips or the commute to work. 
I started downloading apps that could teach Lily her ABCs, colors, shapes, Bible stories and anything else I thought could be beneficial to her. It is overwhelming how many apps are available. We have tried many, but there are a few that she goes back to again and again. Here are my Top 5 picks for toddlers:

1. Monkey Preschool Lunchbox- So at first I was not sure about this app. It looked fun, colorful and had some catchy music, but I was skeptical about the educational potential. Then I watched Lily play. When it asked her to touch the green fruit, she touched the green fruit. She counted the fruit. She did anything that little monkey asked, all in hopes of getting a little virtual sticker for her virtual sticker board. It's bright, it is colorful and it has enough variety in the activity types and levels that it will keep toddlers enteretained for a very long time. Cost: 99 cents

2. My Bible To Go - This is a great Bible learning app for kids! It has simplified Bible stories that are read to the child while they look at corresponding pictures. It can grow with your child, too! As your child learns to read, they can record their own readings of the stories. Cost: 99 cents

3. Dr. Seuss's ABCs - Really fun app for learning the ABCs for Lily, nice sentimental value for Mommy. Even with all the cool graphics out there, I will always have a place in my heart for the look of classic Dr. Seuss. It is basically a digital interactive version of an awesome book. Cost: $3.99

4. Toddler Counting- I love this counting app. It has fresh looking graphics and is really clean looking, which sets it apart from the hundreds of other counting apps. When your toddler taps the items on the page, it says the number AND shows the number. My child often skips "6," but not with this app. Cost: 99 cents for full app, FREE for lite version

5. ZooZoo Safari- Fun little app that my child loves. It has 26 animals, starting with letters A to Z. You can tap the animal for the sound it makes and to watch it in action. Tapping the name of the animal tells you the name while spelling it out. Cost: FREE