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In this edition of Happy Hatchling, Heather – mom and CheapTweet blogger – shares a few tips for developers of iPhone and iPad applications for kids. Be sure to follow Heather on Twitter and please share your tips in the comments.

I married into a technologically-savvy family. Family get-togethers involve quality time with laptops, iPads, and iPhones. Therefore, my kiddo has been exposed to Apple products her entire life and she’s been able to navigate my iPhone since she could crawl. Early on, my husband and I had to password-protect our phones so she wouldn’t inadvertently call our friends, send mass emails, or tweet!

When she was a little older we started downloading some kid-friendly apps for her to use. Although apps are innocently priced, with most only being $0.99, I’ve bought 4 or 5 bad apps for every good one I’ve found. Some are so awful that I feel like I have been scammed. Since I am a consumer and close observer of how my child plays these games, I feel entitled to give some advice. Here are my free (and unsolicited) consulting tips to kid app developers.

By the way, you can see my favorite iPad and iPhone apps in two previous posts: Baby’s First iPhone Apps and Best Toddler iPad and iPhone Apps.

1) Load fast, or don’t load at all.

There are lots of good apps out there (say hello to Elmo’s Monster maker and There’s a Monster at the End of this Book), but unless it loads quickly my toddler is not going to play them. Period. Do what you’ve got to do, but instantaneous play is key. If your game is not quick to load, then add in a fun progress bar that lets a kiddo know that the game is working and something is about to happen (for example, see Dora Ballet Adventure app).

2) Be more than a one note app.

Apps that have only one game or one element get old quickly for little kids. While a game like Dinosaur Stickers has cute graphics, it seldom gets played because the only option is dragging stickers around a page. This rule applies to book apps as well, which are typically formulated to move in one direction with minimal variation in the story. The apps that my child likes the most are those that are interactive and can change from one play to the next. See the book feature in Fun with Thadros (pictured) for a good quality book where you get to pick what is going to happen next.

3) If you’re going to offer a free app, don’t be a jerk.

I like free apps but I also realize that nothing is truly free. I understand that to make a free app worthwhile, the producers may have to include ads or another source of income. However, for games designed specifically for children, I expect a little bit of discernment about appropriate advertising. For example, I am not a fan of free apps for little kids that have advertisements in the middle of the game or book (e.g., look at this Shaun the Sheep screencap), or games that contain advertisements that if clicked on send you to an external Internet site. By the way, this isn’t only a problem with free apps (for example, Winnie the Pooh Puzzle Book).

I like the idea of having a free app with limited functionality compared to the full-priced version so you can test it out and decide if you want more. However, when the free app is only the first 10 pages from a complete book (Dr. Seuss), that is lame.

4) Have a good narrator.

This rule applies to flash cards, games, and book apps. The game Toddler Teasers Food is a decent game, but the narrator’s robotic female voice is grating. But my child loves and responds well to the kids’ voices in the Peekaboo Wild games.

5) Don’t make your application too large.

Most kids don’t have their own iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch. Instead they have to share with their parents who have their own set of applications, songs, videos, and games. Thus, competition for space should be a real concern for app developers. We downloaded a game called My Stuffy Bunny, which is another decent game, but it has long since been removed from all our Apple products because of its size (95.8 MB!). We’re unlikely to keep a game that takes up so much space, when we could have 3-8 smaller games in its place (most games range from 4 MB – 40 MB).

In this edition of Happy Hatchling, Heather – mom and CheapTweet blogger – shares some of her favorite iPhone and iPad apps for kids. Last summer, she wrote a roundup of baby-friendly iPhone and iPad apps, and it’s time for an update. Be sure follow Heather on Twitter and please share your tips in the comments.

Yes, I confess, my daughter has her own iTouch. We didn’t purposely get her one, but it came with another purchase so we thought we’d load some toddler-friendly games on it. She gets to use the iTouch when we go on vacation or eat out. I now wonder how I would live without one! She loves to play the games, it keeps her quietly entertained, and many of the apps are educational as well.

In my search for fun iPhone and iPad apps for kids, I have come across MANY duds, but my husband and I have also found several our daughter really likes. So for parents looking for fun apps that are easy enough for babies and toddlers to use, look no further! You can review my iPhone apps post from last year, and below is an all-new, updated list of my preferred kid-friendly iPad and iPhone apps.

1) My Coloring Book Free

This fabulous app is designed to be very similar to a regular coloring book with more than 30 pages/scenes to choose from. The best part is that you cannot color outside the lines. To play, select a color from the palette and then touch the part of the picture you want in the desired color. My daughter loves this game, but plays it by coloring in all pages in one identical color.  Although she has not grasped the idea of using multiple colors, this game keeps her attention for long spans of time.

Download My Coloring Book Free here, free for iPad and iPhone

2) Fish School

Another amazing iPhone app for kids is by Duck Duck Moose, whose Itsy Bitsy Spider game is still my favorite kids app (previously featured in my first iPhone apps post). Even if you only ever purchased iPhone/iPad games made by this company, then your kids would be highly entertained. This particular Fish School game has everything from free play (guiding fish around a tank), to ABCs, numbers, shapes, and more. I love the cute fish and it is easy for toddlers to navigate.

Download Fish School here, $1.99 iPad and iPhone

3)  MixMe-FixMe

This game is simple – you match three puzzle pieces (a head, mid section, and legs) together to create a person. Even if your child does not understand the objective of the puzzle, it’s still fun to use your fingers to slide different heads on to different bodies. When you do line up the correct person (ex. fireman), you get rewarded with a colorful scene (ex. fireman fighting a fire). I love this game because it is a puzzle with attractive graphics, but not overly complicated so little ones can play. This app is great on airplanes or in restaurants because it’s still understandable and fun when silenced.
Download MixMe-FixMe here, $0.99 for iPad and iPhone

4) Doodle Buddy

This app (not pictured) is essentially a drawing canvas with many color options as well as stamps. You draw by tracing your finger over the paper and you can clear the drawing by shaking the iPhone or iPad.  My daughter started playing this game at 18 months and still enjoys it at 30 months. She loves the stamp feature, which includes pictures of ladybugs, fire, smiley faces, and more. The newer versions of this app appear to be getting more complicated by adding more features. The older versions are a bit easier to use; nevertheless, you can’t beat this free app.

Download Doodle Buddy here, free for iPad and iPhone

5) C is for Cow

C is for Cow is an educational iPhone app with beautiful artwork. This app goes through the ABCs, featuring animals for each letter. You slide your finger to go to the next letter and tap the buttons to hear the letter sound or the animal name. If you love the pictures, this company has a similar app that with animal sounds called Speak, Piggy.

Download C is for Cow here, $0.99 iPad and iPhone

6) Little Uzu

The makers of the Little Uzu app explain this game as “a kinetic multitouch particle visualizer.” My toddler just thinks it’s cool. It requires no skill, but encourages kids (and adults) to explore and discover how the colors react to your touch. The colors and motion changes as your hand moves across the screen and the more places you touch the more complex the designs become. Kids like it because there are no rules and no specific buttons to push; however, it is not a game that commands a long attention span.

Download Little Uzu here, $0.99 iPad and iPhone

7) Dora’s Ballet Adventure

This game barely squeezed onto this list because my daughter loves Dora and spends lots of time on this game. But it has a few downsides.

Pros: the graphics are great, the game is set up exactly like an episode so it is a familiar format, the game is long so it feels worth the higher price tag, and the words highlight as the story is read so it can help new readers.

Cons: this game takes parental guidance to teach young ones how to play, the game never changes or has alternate routes so it could get boring after several plays, you have to click through lots of text to get to the next objective, and it cannot be played easily while on silent.

Download Dora’s Ballet Adventure here, $2.99 iPhone and $3.99 iPad

These are some of Heather’s favorite iPhone and iPad apps for kids – what are you some of your favorites?

In this edition of Happy Hatchling, Heather – mom and CheapTweet blogger – shares some of her favorite kid-centered iPhone applications. Be sure to follow Heather on Twitter!

My family travels a lot, mostly because both sets of grandparents live far away. My parents are three hours by car, while the other set is four hours by plane. We also enjoy attending sporting events and eating out with friends. Co-workers, friends and family wonder how we are still able to do so much with a toddler who is not yet two (but already experiencing the terrible twos). My secret is our iPhone. Four hours forced to sit in my lap on an airplane? iPhone. Three-hour drive? iPhone. Two hours at non-baby-safe friend’s house? iPhone. One-hour dinner at resturant? iPhone. Now don’t get me wrong, my child doesn’t just play with my phone all day long. We use it almost exclusively for times when we’re out of the house and on the go. That makes it fun and exciting for her and keeps her occupied for short spurts of time.

I have spent a great deal of time searching and purchasing kid iPhone apps, and let’s be honest, there are a lot of apps that are duds and a waste of 99 cents. However, there are also some educational apps that I am proud to let my child play. Here are my picks for apps that are both mommy and baby approved. (Note: I am not sponsored for this post and these are my honest-to-goodness favorite apps.)

Baby’s First Apps (6 months and up)

1) Itsy Bitsy Spider

Love, love, love this app. This is a great first app for babies because it’s not complicated and everything on the screen is interactive. When you touch the spider it moves to a different scene, the flowerpot blooms, a window opens and shuts, or a banana slug eats a banana. Very entertaining and if your little one loves this app, they make others such as “Wheels on the Bus”, which is fun but not quite as easy or interactive.

2) Balloonimals

This game is fun to show off because it surprises people with its creative cuteness. Kiddo loves it, but there are not limitless options so she tires of it more quickly than other games. It may also require some parent help to play. My own mother sometimes fights my daughter for playing time on this game.

3) Elmo’s Monster Maker (pictured)

Who doesn’t love Elmo? This is app was made by IDEO, the same company responsible for Balloonimals.  The graphics are amazing… It’s like watching Sesame Street. In this app, you create your own monster muppet.

4) Peekaboo Wild

Another great first app for babies. It is a peekaboo game with wild animals (they also have a barnyard version). Your child taps the screen and the next animal is revealed. The animation and noises are cute and not annoying compared to other animal games.

5) Baby’s Animal Show

This is a basic flash card application with pictures of real animals and animated animals. It’s not very flashy, but my daughter likes to see the animals. This one is good for when your kid is learning animal noises.

Apps for Tots (1 ½ years and up)

1) Monkey Preschool Lunchbox (pictured)

Many different puzzles with many different concepts. Although, your child may not be ready for some of the games, they are designed to be solvable even if answers are chosen at random by your tot. This way your child can learn the concepts over time without getting frustrated.

2 ) Shape Builder

Simple puzzle game where your kid drags the puzzle pieces into the correct shape. Very simple, but there are lots of different puzzles and it helps with your little one’s hand-eye coordination.

3) AniMatch

This is a simple matching game. This game makes the list due to the cute animal noises and animal faces. This app is for an older tot (2 to 3 years old) because there are lots of puzzle pieces to match. There is also a free version of this app available.

4) Monkey Preschool: When I Grow Up

Similar concept as the Elmo game, except here you select an occupation for your monkey. It has unlimited play with many options.

5) Alphabets in the Zoo (pictured)

There are four parts to this app. The play mode is actually a video of the animal alphabet song. The graphics are sometimes blurry, but the creativeness and the song makeup for it. The other nice feature is flash cards of the animals that were in the song. The flash cards have four buttons, which tell your kiddo more about the animals featured in the song. There is also a karaoke option, which is totally pointless because it the same video without sound, and finally there is a poor quality matching game with annoying sounds. All in all, the alphabet video is adorable and the flashcards are informative.