We have discovered a useful site for mothers-who-are-too-busy to look for healthy apps for their kids.  "IPhone apps for kids" at http://www.bestkidsapps.com have a great review site, which all mothers will find useful.  Spend some time there.   We are impressed with the apps they have chosen.

It all started out on a Sunday morning, when Madeline--sweet adorable
granddaughter Madeline-- sidled up to Granddad and said, every so
sweetly, "Granddad, see this iTouch? It is a wonderful thing,
Granddad. See what it can do, Granddad. And I have an idea for an
app, and you could program it, and I could make 50% and you could make
50%!" And, granddad, looking at this precious thing could
say...nothing...but..."of course we can."

So, he, who has an electrical engineering degree, and has programmed
for rockets which guard our defense and communication systems, had
absolutely no idea how to program an i...what? Naturally, he leans on
an old friend, Google.

The next day, he comes to me, and says, "Well, I need to download a
programming kit from Apple, and it costs around $100." And, since our
budget usually goes for boat parts and sailing expenses, this was
quite out of the ordinary. But, knowing that it would be good to be
learning all this, I said, "of course we can."

But then, it happened. On Thursday, a distressed Granddad showed up
at the kitchen door. "We need a Mac," he said. It will cost us about
$1500. By then, I had learned that an app, which takes a quadrillian
hours to program, would sell for a dollar. And, there are 150,000 of
them out there. It looked like there would be no return on investment
for us. It was just going to be for fun. Fun for Granddad and
Madeline. And, knowing all of this, I said, "Ooh boy."

The Mac came in a shiny new box. Very beautiful. Very exciting. And
the books came from Amazon. And granddad got started. Eight hours a
day, he worked. A new language that no one bothered to explain. New
codes, that did what? Things that didn't work...why? And things that
did...why again? And, so they started. Madeline drew the pictures,
and Granddad programmed.

The weeks followed.
Granddad programmed. Madeline played soccer
Granddad programmed. Madeline watched movies
Granddad programmed. Madeline....you get the idea.

Finally, "Night Patrol" was born. I have to say, it is very cute.
It is an app that "scans the room for 'monsters,' and then catches
them, and puts them in "jail." You get rid of them, and then scan
the room again. Each monster has a personality that Madeline assigned
to them. In the end, I am glad we did it.

But, now we have this Mac. Why don't we make another one...for
children to learn foreign languages. And so, we began to make
"French4Kids," "Spanish4Kids," and "Fun4Kids."

Our best one was designed by Madeline's mother, who is an
award-winning graphic artist. It is the best. If we don't do another
one, I will be glad we did this one. "Do You Hear," is the first of
a series of apps, in which children are given hints and can guess what
sounds are, what sights are.

And, now that it is being sold by iTunes, Granddad came to me and
said, "Do you think we can do another one?" And I said, "Of course
we can."

YouTube of our latest: (Click just once, or your browser will also open YouTube's web site, and you will hear the sound twice.)