CNETAnalysis: As much as we try to persuade that them that the iPad is a toy for adults, kids just don’t seem to be getting the message, and unfortunately for us, the developers seem to be siding with the youth – developing a slew of top-quality, child-friendly games. We’re not suggesting you add a £429 iPad to your five-year-old’s Christmas list, but these iPad apps for toddlers could provide hours of entertainment for your little one, while you take a break from Plants vs Zombies, or all the important stuff you were supposed to be doing. 1. Magic Piano Magic Piano by Smule – who previously brought us the annoying-but-brilliant Ocarina – lets you, or your child, play the piano in several fun ways. The keyboard can be laid out in the regular fashion – with more or less keys made visible with a pinch – or in a circle or spiral. Obviously playing a circular piano takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s fun to hit keys randomly until something vaguely tuneful comes out There’s a song book full of popular piano melodies and they can be played by tapping correctly and in time on the screen, a bit like Tap Tap, but with more dots. For pretending to look like a musical genius, this feature is pretty good. As with Ocarina, Magic Piano players can listen to each other from around the world, and can even play duets together. Magic Piano is fun for all ages and with good sound and fun graphics, it’s well worth the 59p asking price. 2. Red Fish 4 Kids For the slightly younger iPad user, there’s Red Fish 4 Kids by Fresh Planet, an application that offers up a whole host of mini games, puzzles and learning activities for children aged 4 and over. With 50 different activities on offer covering letters, numbers, drawing, music and problem-solving, Red Fish has plenty to offer and the interface is bright, clear and colourful. Red Fish is perfect for younger iPad users and priced at £5.99 3. Toy Story Read-Along Reading applications are very popular on the iPad, but this app also has a whole lot more. Your children can read through the book, but also paint scenes from the film, play games and record themselves singing along to songs from the soundtrack. Applications like this show how the iPad can offer much more than printed books ever could. Toy Story Read-Along is free. Read-along stories for Toy Story 2 and 3 are also available, priced at £5.49 each. 4. Drawing Pad All kids love drawing, scribbling and generally making a mess, so to save them running wild with the paints and re-decorating the house, we recommend Drawing Pad . This is an application with literally hundreds of different pencils, paints and stamps to create just about anything. There’s also a huge selection of cartoon images and backgrounds to make each drawing truly unique. Once finished you can share your creation by email or Twitter from within the app. Thanks to its intuitive design, children of any age can pick up Drawing Pad and have a play. At £1.19 it offers good value for money, too. 5. Alice In Wonderland Another book application that has gained a lot of media interest is Alice for the iPad , which is, obviously, Alice in Wonderland in shiny, pretty e-book form. This book offers more interactivity than most e-books we’ve seen, with use of the accelerometer and touchscreen making the story more exciting for younger readers. Many are toting this sort of e-book as the future of publishing, and while some may prefer plain text, there’s no denying that the interactivity is something kids will enjoy. 6. Monkey Preschool Lunchbox One now for younger children; Monkey Preschool Lunchbox is aimed at two to three-year-olds. This bright and colourful game encourages young kids to complete simple challenges and puzzles. The application addresses work with colours, matching objects, counting and letters in a fun and intuitive way. As the name suggests, Monkey Preschool Lunchbox is fronted by a cute monkey character who guides children through the game. This helps to reduce the number of complicated menus, meaning young children can play the games themselves, although TechRadar doesn’t suggest leaving a two-year-old in charge of your shiny new iPad for too long. 7. Alphabet Fun This letter-learning application presents the alphabet in a fun way for young children with over 50 cartoon images aimed at helping preschoolers learn numbers, colours, animals and the alphabet. There’s also a writing guide to help youngsters form letters correctly by drawing them on the screen. Combining Alphabet Fun with one of those rubber-tipped styluses would be a great way for young children to start learning how to write. Alphabet Fun is priced at £1.79. Related Stories Apple responds to iTunes fraud, bans developer In Depth: iTunes 10: 8 features we want to see Apple Time Capsules recalled due to power problems Apple adds Bing to iPad with newest firmware update Steve Jobs: ‘We’re not perfect, phones aren’t perfect’

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