MouthOff, ustwo

The fun with MouthOff starts with the icon on your phone: Unlike the usual "tile-shaped" look and feel, the designers of this game have cleverly used the color scheme to make it appear as if there's a little alien creature peaking at you from in between the other icons. It makes it very easy to find, and my daughter giggles whenever she sees him. Click on our friend Mr. Spaceman and the phone immediately launches a home page, in horizontal mode (holding your phone sideways). Your choices are "signature mouths" or "original mouths;" click on one and you are presented with an illustrated gallery of tiles.

But what a weird gallery!! It's made up of 25 mouths. A tooth-filled shark mouth, like you found with Bruce in Little Mermaid, a jowly dog mouth, a mouth that looks like it's a set of false teeth, a robot mouth that looks a bit like Bender. But then the magic begins: choose one, hold it up in front of your mouth (facing outwards) and start talking. The mouth moves along with your words. It's inexplicable, and hilarious. I had to pry my phone out of my daughter's hand, as she sat in front of a mirror, trying each one and singing a little song. It's also the first app that made my husband laugh, which gives it a gold star in my book. Finally, this is one of those apps that showcases the iPhone's endless lists of random functions (linking sound to action) and is just plain fun. People are even making videos of themselves using the phones; that says it all really doesn't it? http://tinyurl.com/yeuosa5

You'll like it because: It really is funny, and the "mouths" cover an extremely creative range of options.
Too bad: The joke gets old eventually.

iPhone Apps users gave it 3/5 stars
Cost: Lite version for FREE, full version for £0.59

Ages: All ages.

Crayon Doodle, Y Lau

I'm a mom, so I always have certain things in my bag; colored pencils, random soft toys, tissues/wet wipes, spare pants and some random bag of kiddie treats. Sometimes though, in the rush to shove all of the stuff from one bag to another, something gets left behind, and it's almost always the one thing I need. But now, on the days that I forget the crayons or pencils, I have a backup plan - Crayon Doodle on my iPhone.

This app is dead basic, and only does one thing: makes your finger into a crayon. You can choose a colour from 6 basic shades and off you go. You can draw whatever your imagination decides. Whizzy bits? You can save your picture, and then, if you're feeling wild, hit "replay" and watch the picture re-draw itself. Basic? Yes. Fit to purpose? Also a big yes.

You'll like it because: It's easy to figure out, and open to plain ole imagination.

Too bad: It's a one-trick pony.

iPhone Apps users gave it 3.5/5 stars

Cost: £0.59

Ages: 2-5

Trace, Kevin Calderone

Trace. Even saying it kicks off the soundtrack in my head. One of the first games I downloaded for my daughter to play, Trace allows children to problemsolve while playing, as they work to get a little red stick man on a journey to the sun. Each "world" (volcano, flame, water, space, etc.) initiates a different background setting, with its own theme tunes and challenges.

Your job is to trace a path with your finger around a landscape with various moving obstacles. Each screen gets harder, but small achievements along the way make it very satisfying. You can erase errant lines, hop over gaps and try as many times as it takes to achieve success. This is one game we come back to time and again.

You'll like it because: As fun for adults as for children.
Too bad: The soundtrack will stay in your head long after the game is shut down.
iPhone Apps users gave it 4/5 stars

Cost: FREE

Ages: 4-9