Your idea of a happy meal is broccoli and carrots finished with a huge helping of “Gee, thanks for cooking, Mom.” We have just the recipe: Smash Your Food, an engaging iPad and iPhone app. It serves up valuable lessons about nutrition through quizzes and funny gross-out videos. Even the first lady has taken notice; it won Michelle Obama’s Healthy Apps for Kids national contest.

Free mini version available at itunes.apple.com; expanded version available for $3 at itunes.apple.com.

When your busy bee finishes jobs, he logs in, ticks off tasks, and racks up points, which go toward real-life rewards (ice cream, video game time, a trip to the zoo).

To sign up, go to choremonster.com. Enter dailycandy as the invite code.

You want your scribble monster to leave his creative mark. Just not on the kitchen wall. Direct his talents to a better place care of Bridgeman Art Doodle Live, an iPad app developed by Bridgeman Art Library, an international company that makes art available for reproduction. Easy-to-use toolbars let you pull images of famous artworks and paint over them with a variety of brushstrokes and colors.

Available at itunes.apple.com, $2.

Based on a Chinese fable, it’s the tale of a bunny who’s given a magic paint brush — everything he paints comes to life. The emperor catches wind of its power and orders the bunny to paint for him. A morality tale about the pitfalls of greed ensues.

Available at itunes.apple.com, $3.

Teaching your little scribe to properly hold a crayon takes patience and control — on both your parts. Get a grip with Chalk Walk, an app that does the job through fun graphics and fine motor movement practice.

Available at itunes.apple.com, $3.

Look out, Aesop. There’s a new yarn-spinner in town. Welcome Brainy Fables, a collection of story apps for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Like Aesop’s creations, the cleverly illustrated tales bring to life animals and children facing moral challenges.

Available at brainyfables.com. “Mirta the Super Fly” is free; other fables, $2 each.

Learn triangles from trapezoids in this iPad app, which hides shapes within pictures. With fresh, modern graphics in a citrusy palette, each screen could be nursery art.

Available at itunes.com, $2.

They’ll look forward to toy cleanup and teeth brushing after tinkering with this motivator. Kids choose an avatar that gains powers, gadgets, and coins as they complete chores. Parents can play referee by adding or revoking points.

Available at itunes.com, $4.

When you don’t want to lug around Legos, download a mind-bender that lets you stack and shift colored blocks. The realistic 3-D look kept our budding engineers engaged for a long time.

Available at itunes.com, free.

Make-and-take goes cyber. Create virtual art projects, like cross-stitching and making felt scenes. If you miss the whole get-your-hands-dirty thing, there are three step-by-step instructions for making real 3-D crafts.

Available at itunes.com, $7.

A beret-wearing animated mouse takes you on a phonics trip through Paris. On the way: Learn the spelling of various objects by shifting letter tiles around, Scrabble style. It has “kindergarten prep” written all over it.

Available at itunes.com, $2.

The concept is basic: Touch the screen to move a symmetrical tree into different geometric forms. It’s so basic, it’s mesmerizing. Perfect for fiddling while waiting in the checkout line.

Available at itunes.com, free.

Aspiring J.K. Rowlings can write and illustrate their own e-books (or go off more than 50 templates). Share it with the world in a virtual gallery or order printed copies for grandma.

Available at itunes.com, free.

Kids learn the alphabet in harmonious fashion: Instruments (everything from accordions to zithers) sound off while corresponding words pop up on the screen. Artful photos of musicians take it beyond cartoon territory.

Available at itunes.com, $3.

As a story about a world-traveling preschooler unfolds, busy little hands swipe the screen to do puzzles related to the plot. They also tap objects to make sounds and trigger light effects. How’s that for lengthening attention spans?

Available at itunes.com, $2.

The genius app has a stop-motion-animation feel as balloon animals are “blown up” before kiddo’s eyes. Animate the critters by gently swiping, shaking, and even blowing at your device. Grown-up confession: We’re addicted.

Available at itunes.com, $2.

Keep the creepy-crawlies at a safe distance with this fun-sparker that pits kids against flies, bees, and ants in preschool-appropriate games. (We lost to a dragonfly in tic-tac-toe but beat a cockroach in a race.)

Available at itunes.com, $3.

The popular children’s book about an industrious bunny moves along at an interactive quip as you touch the screen to plant carrots and sow seeds. Sweetly simple illustrations put a smile on a toddler’s face.

Available at itunes.com, $5.

Nothing against the real deal, but this take on tradition lets kids paint and draw on eggs in an exciting new way. They can erase and start over to their hearts’ content. Bonus: no mess.

Available at itunes.com, $2.

Choose from several brain-tuning games, including DoReMi 1-2-3 (teaching musical pitch and melody) and Big Kid Life: Firefighter (boosting number and shape recognition). Meanwhile, you play Eye Spy (i.e., receive messages on your smartphone that report what your child is learning).

Available at itunes.com, free.

Delighting toddlers in Press Here, Chronicle Books’s new app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch based on the best-selling children’s picture book by Hervé Tullet.

Available online at itunes.apple.com, $1-$2.

No more downloading individual book apps to fill your kiddo’s digital library. The iPad app from Ruckus Media Group contains bookshelves full of iReaders (interactive storybooks), e-Readers (kiddie e-books), and narrated video books.

Find out more at ruckusreader.com, $4-$25.

The next time you underestimate a scribble, check out Squiggles. The app encourages kids to draw curvy, swerve-y lines over colorful illustrated scenes. Each time squiggles are added, scenes become animated in increasingly vibrant and amusing ways.

Available at itunes.apple.com, free.

Your home? Such a zoo. Which makes it the perfect place to welcome Tiny Tiger and Friends. The sweetly simple app, sure to tickle the under-6 set, presents a menagerie of illustrated animals to interact with.

Available at itunes.apple.com, $2.

Start with Who Stole Alligator’s Shoe, about a reptile that learns not to cast blame on his friends. It’s hard to stop at just one, especially when adventures such as Who Can Trust You, Kangaroo? (teaching that lying is a no-no) and Very Worried Walrus (showing the value of self-confidence) are standing by.

Each book’s positive message stands the test of time.

Available at sweetpickles.com, $6 each.

The app keeps problem-solving skills on track as players choose to pick up and drop off passengers or load up cargo (crates of fruit, burlap sacks). Swipe and pinch a lever for engaging new camera angles. Talk about a thrill ride.

Available at itunes.apple.com, $2.

Quirky animal characters, such as a unicorn sporting red underwear and a vulture with a beehive hairstyle, hide letters that change colors when touched. Tapping another part of the screen triggers a silly animation — and a giggle fit. (Our kids hit the floor when Charlie the chipmunk cheered for sharp cheddar.)

Available at itunes.apple.com, $3.

Choose from twelve illustrated scenes (ocean, backyard, city) and drag and drop items into their rightful places. As an item falls on the screen, its name or sound is announced. Each scene is like its own interactive fun zone; flowers can be watered, apples picked, and train wagons hitched.

Available at itunes.apple.com, $2.

Hide the crayons and download Dragon, Robot, Gatorbunny. The iPad eBook is a digital version of Calef Brown’s popular children’s book that prompts budding artists to draw fantastical animals.

Available at itunes.apple.com, $10.