Some things come masquerading as kid products even though they’re really designed for mums. Like Tickle Tap Apps. These iPhone games for kids were created in consultation with preschool education researchers, designed to be fun while helping kids from three to five learn about sounds, numbers, colours, patterns and shapes. But as far as we’re concerned their main appeal is the distraction they offer in those moments when you discover that you forgot crayons to keep your kids occupied during the seemingly interminable wait for food at the restaurant, your child starts wigging out in the grocery store line or you hit a traffic jam. After all it’s easy to forget crayons but you’ve almost always got your phone on you.

Canadian studio zinc Roe has just released the first three apps in their series of ten. There’s Sort Slider, a shape matching game; Count Caddy which progresses from counting by ones to twos and threes; and our personal favourite, oops, our three-year-old tester’s fave, Sound Shaker, which turns your iPhone into a visual and auditory symphony of chimes, whistles, drums and other sounds. And at just $1.99 each, they’re about the same price as placating your tot with treat in the grocery store, only they last longer.

Our tiny testers, who were relatively computer illiterate and had never before touched an iPhone, caught on to the whole concept scarily fast, even discovering features we’d missed. Ease-of-use and extreme handiness aside, playing games, whether on the computer or your handheld, still counts as screen time and too much screen time interferes with active, creative play. So rather than handing your iPhone over to your child willy-nilly, we’d suggest pulling these up when you really need ‘em.

No iPhone? Tickle Tap Apps work on the iTouch too. No iTouch? Yet another reason to ask for one or the other for Christmas. We are.

Tickle Tap Apps: www.tickletapapps.com