Cupcakeroo!
Like Furry Friend, Cupcakeroo! is an app that will keep a child entertained for, like, forever. At least forever in kid time, which could be anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours. The point is, this app is incredible. I had the first version, Cupcakes, on my iphone for years and knew kids when cuckoo for it. Naturally, when I saw there was a sequel, and that the sequel was also available on the iPad, I bought it immediately.
In the original Cupcakes!, you got to choose a batter, mix it up, bake it, and then decorate your cupcakes and eat them ("eat" in this context means tapping the cupcake with your finger and watching cartoonish bite marks show up until the cupcake disappears). Cupcakeroo! adds approximately 3 million upgrades to the first game. First of all, you now get to choose between making cupcakes, mini cupcakes, cake pops, and whoopie pies. There are more cupcake flavors to choose from, and the layout is much more intuitive (making it easier for the smaller set). Plus, since the game is now on the iPad as well as the iPhone, everything is BIGGER and MORE EXCITING.
I've probably made, or helped make, 2,000 virtual cupcakes in my time as a nanny, so you can believe me when I say it doesn't get old. And that's from an adult perspective, so for a kid? Making cupcakes and other sweet treats will never EVER get old. One of my favorite charges started playing Cupcakes! when she was about 2 and a half or three, and played that game almost every time I saw her for the next two years. She'd probably still be playing it if I hadn't moved away.
Cupcakeroo! is great in that it engages kids and lets them be creative. They make their cupcakes from scratch (but they can also use a mix if they want) and create something all by themselves, from putting ingredients in a bowl to licking off cupcake frosting. (The licking off frosting feature is new with Cupcakeroo! and is equal parts disgusting and awesome.)
The best thing about Cupcakeroo! (and its predecessor)? It only costs $0.99. And you get it on your iPhone AND iPad. You can play anywhere! Two people can play at once! Have two kids? Put one of them on Furry Friend and the other on Cupcakeroo! and draw yourself a nice hot bubble bath, because they're going to be out of your hair for the foreseeable future. Unless of course, you're making cupcakes yourself, which is a very likely possibility.
Cupcakeroo!: $0.99