My Aquarium, Sam Robertson

Picture this: It's a half hour into a 3-hour car drive. The kids are bouncing all over the backseat. The snacks have all been consumed, the toys are strewn all over, the blaming and crying has begun. You give the younger one a soother, and "pass back" the iPhone to the elder, turned onto the My Aquarium app.

Immediately soothing bubble sounds spread through the car. Junior is focusing on adding fish, subtracting fish, adding seaweed and logs and deep-sea divers, in never-ending combinations. The calm may not last, but boy - while it does? Bliss.

You'll like it because: It's absorbing and easy to play with.
Too bad: It does eventually get dull.
iPhone Apps users gave it 2/5 stars
Cost: Lite is Free, Fullfat is £0.59

Ages: 3-8

Make a Martian, 3DAL

This is one of those games that is great for boys or girls - boys because it includes monster space aliens, girls because it allows you to "dress them up" with various body parts. The premise of this animated game is simple: you get to Make An Alien by choosing a body shape, wings, eyes, mouth, what colour each element is, etc. - in a kind of never-ending list.

The premise of this game is simple and it is very easy for even the smallest child to play with. All they have to do is start pushing buttons to get the idea.

You'll like it because: You can save a "photo" of favourite combos into your Photo Gallery.
Too bad: You'll be asked to view a new Martian every two minutes.
iPhone Apps users gave it 3/5 stars

Cost: £0.59

Ages: 2-8

iClean, Xtremize Software

This is one of those apps that proves that Kids Think Different(ly). My daughter and her friends think iClean is the funniest thing in the entire world - they have designed dances around it and play it endlessly, singing along with the tunes. Why they love it, I couldn't say. What is it? That's a bit simpler.

It's basically just a bunch of videos of real animals - a crew of "screen cleaners" including dogs, cats, and one drunk-looking hamster - licking a glass wall, so it appears to be "cleaning" the iPhone screen from the inside. Each animal has its own music-to-lick-by theme music, which spans a wide range (salsa, vaudeville, blues, and my favourite - the Hamster Dance for Stitch to lick by).

What are they putting on the glass to make those animals lick it so blissfully? Who thought this idea up? Why is it still entertaining after 74 viewings? We may never know. But it kept my daughter giggling and entertained for almost a 1/2 hour on a busy highway, so as far as I'm concerned, it was money well spent.

You'll like it because: Well, you won't like it, but the small fry will, which is the whole reason anyway, isn't it?
Too bad: Good luck getting "I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart" song out of your head. Ever.
iPhone Apps users gave it 2.5/5 stars

Cost: £.059

Ages: All ages

My Makeup, AppsNMinded (blogged by Kate)

Part of the natural girlie triology (including My Nails and My Hair, natch), My Makeup features 4 girls from the shoulders up. Each girl has a different hair, eye, skin colouring and the player chooses one (each with Gossip Girl-style names like Blake, Tia, Tessa and Brooke) and gets to decide how to make her up. There are at least four choices each of mascara, eyeshadow, blusher, lipstick and nail varish. Add on the earrings and body art and you can create a completely different look each go - especially as you can design each side differently. A facial option complete with cucumber eyes and a facepack finishes off the game. Ahhh.

Our 5 year old daughter loves this app. She spends hours trying out colours and hearing the girls' comments - all in slightly bizzare English accents - "toodles, righty ho, ohhh, that was smashing ..." - and the other sound effects. She is sometimes disappointed that she can't save or send her efforts, although her dad (whose phone it is) is relieved as another of her favourites - a bunny dressing game that you can save - has taken up too much of his memory. I sometimes find it a bit flakey - some of the options never seem to work, and others only intermittently. That doesn't seem to bother our girl though, who just moves onto the next colour.

You'll like it because: It's girly, creative, with an almost unending number of colour combinations.

Too bad: Some of the options don't seem to work and you can't send your creation.

iPhone Apps users gave it 2.5/5 stars

Cost: £0.59

Ages: 3-8

UpThere, Veiled Games

One of the first apps I ever heard about, UpThere is actually quite esoteric. The first screen shows a Victorian room, decorated with curliqued window decorations and ornate wallpapers. A round cage contains a red balloon that bounces madly around, desperately trying to escape. Press Start and the balloon begins its ascent into the worlds above, trying to maneuver through book shelves, rat mazes, etc. - accompanied by a falsely soothing song.

Your job is to tilt the phone to and fro, guiding the balloon on its increasily speedy journey. If you get to the bottom of the screen, you've timed out. A clock keeps track of the time in corner of the screen, which inexplicably gets your heart racing. Great for older children, although little ones can figure it out as well (there's an Easy/Hard setting).

You'll like it because: It's elegant, unexpected, slightly strange and unique.
Too bad: It is either repetitive or addictive, depending on your mindset.
iPhone Apps users gave it 3/5 stars

Cost: £0.59

Ages: 4-8

ColoringBook, Beach House Software

Besides my natural desire to like an application that comes from a developer with a name like Beach House, this is easy to use and does what it says on the tin: Presents you with a series of "pages," each with a different outlined pictures just waiting to be colored in. You can choose a pirate, lion, fairy, etc. - choose a crayon from the box - even erase your booboos. At the end, you can save it (a function I didn't know existed until I was scrolling through my photo gallery and encountered a variety of half-filled-in pictures). And it's simple to figure out; my friends 3 and a 1/2 year old had sorted it five seconds after getting his hands on my phone.

You'll like it because: Simple to figure out and most no pens to leak in your bag.
Too bad: Some of the pictures are kind of creepy and amateurish (the fairy needs a re-draw).
iPhone Apps users gave it 3.5/5 stars

Cost: £0.59

Ages: 2-5

Preschool Adventure, 3DAL

One of the biggest problems with entertaining toddlers is their ridiculously short attention span. What better then, than a 5-in-1 game. Preschool Adventure consists of 5 separate, quick apps:

• Colors: An underwater scene with 7 color blobs. Clicking on each reveals an sea friend.
• Body: A monkey with body parts floating all around (no, not as gross as that sounds!); click on the body part and it flies to the correct place, with a perky voice identifying the part.
• Matching: An animal divided into 3 parts; flick one of the parts and another flies in. Align all the parts of one animal.
• Sounds: Click on a farm animal and hear its voice.
• Shapes: Five little moon creatures - click on them to hear their shape and color.

You'll like it because: If they don't like one game, they'll probably like another. Excellent graphics, fairly educational.
Too bad: The super-American voices are a bit OTT.
iPhone Apps users gave it 3.5/5 stars

Cost: £0.59

Ages: 2-5