The British are coming! And they're here for your children.

Today there are tons of toddler apps that not only keep kids entertained, but also teach basic concepts like, colors, shapes and counting in ways that are a lot more engaging than my method of repeating over and over: Green ball. Three Cheerios. Hey, that's how we rolled back in the dark ages.

 

Take for instance the new Brit-developed Jellytoons app, which is so well designed I think it may become the gold standard for toddler apps to come. It has the look of a cool cartoon, with a classy British narrator whose voice makes everything seem instantly smarter.

Bobo's Birthday Challenge stars a cast of six friendly monsters who play six mini-games with your child to unlock reward stickers and help develop basic skills. Once all the challenges are completed then Bobo can open his presents and your child gets an evaluation to see how the kid did with things like fine motor skills or "colour" matching. (See? British.)

You can even have free activity sheets emailed to you for those odd times that you might actually want to use your cell phone to make calls. -Betsy

The Jellytoons app by Mindshapes is available for iPhones and iPads at the iTunes store and costs just .99¢.Sorry, no Android yet.

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