M's Favorite iPad Apps: Fall 2012

Let me preface this list by saying that M is really into all things Disney, especially all things Minnie or Princess, so you will see a recurring theme in her latest list of favorite apps...so here are the latest app obsessions of my little drama queen (in no particular order)!

1. Disney Junior - this is simply an application that allows you to watch shows that air on Disney Junior. Word or caution - only use when WiFi is connected, not 3G, as watching on episode will suck up most of your cellular data. Since M is obsessed with all things Disney, this gets a lot of use nowadays.

2. Fancy Nancy Dress Up - My girly girl M loves most things dress-up, sparkly, shiny, beaded, fancy, magic... you get the picture. She will spend long periods of time with this application, dressing up Nancy in her fanciest of outfits and changing the beautifully illustrated backgrounds. My only problem with this app is that I cannot stand the Nancy voiceover that says things like, "That's posh! Posh is a fancy word for fancy!" over and over. The last thing I want my already over dramatic toddler to start saying is "that's posh!"

3. Grimm's Rapunzel - Between pages heavy with words (which your toddler can have read aloud to them) are fun interactive pop-up pages that your kid will love. You plant a garden and pick flowers, put vegetables into soup to make dinner, you feed and rock a baby, you pack items into a suitcase, collect musical notes, etc.. And the illustrations are adorable.

4. Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Pirate School - This one is fun for kids of all ages. Play music with Sharky and Bones, fly through a maze with Izzy, play eye spy with Cubby...if your kid knows and loves Jake and the Never Land Pirates, this will be a big hit.

5. Minnies' Bow-tique: M is obsessed with all things Minnie Bow-Tique. We have watched every mini episode online about 100 times, she has books, we make bows for her hair "like Minnie," and she adores this application. You pick out every aspect of the bow, put it into the bow maker and out pops a bow that you can actually place on a photo of yourself, or give to Minnie to wear in a fashion show. Big fun for all budding fashionistas!

6. Mickey's Road Rally - This app is one big interactive episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. My problem is that it is the same thing every time you play it, but M doesn't seem to mind choosing the same Mouseketool ten times over. She loves interacting with her favorite cast of characters and being part of their fun!

7 . Monster Soup - So this is actually one of my applications that M got her finger on, but she loves to play and "pop the shapes" as she calls it. She isn't technically playing it the right way, but it does help her with her matching skills.

8. Princess Fairy Tale Maker by Duck Duck Moose - My favorite application designers have hit a home run with their latest creation. First you pick a background, then you add on top your favorite little characters from the tool bar below, which features about 50 different little people and even more little animals and accessories that you can make any size and place anywhere. After you set up multiple scenes you then record your own fairy tale to play over the images you created. It really is ingenious, and children 4+ will really get a kick out of it, but for now M loves to create little scenes using all the "pretty princesses." I look forward to the days where she can actually create her own interactive fairy tale with this app.