It's no secret that I have small children and I've bought an iPad. I knew before it arrived that my 3 year old would love it, and he does. My laptop has been relegated to the label of 'Mummy's boring computer' but on the plus side they're not constantly pinching my iPhone to play with.

Having had the iPad for a while now I thought I'd share our favourites and see if you've got any suggestions on one's we should try.

These are the apps that have survived the honeymoon period and are still being played with so I can confidently claim they've been a hit.

(The app title links to the iTunes store so beware when you click them, it will try and launch iTunes.)  

Toy Story Read-Along, Free - We love Toy Story in our house so this was always going to a winner. As well as a read-a-long book, it includes some games and colouring activities which has kept the kids interested.

Real Racing, £5.99 - It uses the motion sense to steer so it's easy for the kids to play. Well rendered and good fun even for the bigger kids in our family.

Uzu, £0.59 (I got this when it was free)  - Uzu is a "kinetic multitouch particle visualizer", basically there are pixels of colour that respond to touch. My 3 year old finds it fascinating but only for a few minutes at a time.

Mewmew Tower Toy for iPad, £1.79 - See how high you can stack cats. This one is a favourite of my 5 year old, the younger one finds it frustrating as he doesn't quite get the concept of balance and gravity.

Clicky Sticky, £1.19 - Stickers are always a winner with kids. Clicky Sticky comes with a few different themes which seem to satisfy both children. Probably one for the very young though.

Fruit Ninja HD £2.99 - Everyone in my family seems to enjoy chopping fruit, ninja style. We had this on the iPhone first but the HD version has some nice extras like a two player mode. The graphics on this are lovely; the insides of the fruit, which you see when you chop, are really well detailed.

Touch Hockey Extreme, Free or £1.79 - Table air hockey. It has one and two player mode so you can play alone against the iPad or another player. We paid for the upgrade so they can choose their own colours and this stops the arguments over who is red/blue.

Drawing Pad, £1.19 - A simple drawing app with lots of textures and colours via brushes, pencils, pens, stickers etc. My 5 year old really likes it. You can also save the pictures they draw which means I have lots of pictures of houses and stick men/women on my iPad.

Labrinyth 2 HD Lite, Free - Nicely rendered and the kids have completed all the levels. The tilt controlling of the ball around the maze is easy for them to manage by themselves. it reminds me of the last day of term when someone always bought one into school.

Monkey Preschool Lunchbox, £0.59 - An iPad and iPhone app. It features a slightly annoying monkey but my 3 year old find him amusing as he does a backflip if he gets the answer right. All instructions are audio so good for independent play. Good for preschool but I suspect older kids will hate it and if you're adult I suggest you leave the room while it's on.

RedFish 4 Kids, £5.99 - A collection of activities so the cost may look a bit steep but you're getting a lot of different games for your money. Aimed very much at small children as it has no menus or text to read, the games are simple enough for them to 'figure it out'.

Match 10, £1.79 - An iPhone and iPad app.We've got a few matching pairs games on the iPad and iPhone but they like this one in particular because they can choose different themes such as fruit, sports and insects.

If you've got any good app recommendations for early/pre-school years then please leave a comment below. I have two willing and able testers!