Touch screen tablets are easy for toddlers to control, and inexpensive enough that you won't be too upset if they manage to spill their cereal all over the screen. Common Sense Media has found that tablet ownership rose from 8 percent to 40 percent in families with children under 8. Like the television and other forms of entertainment media, tablets such as the ones Lenovo offers are valuable tools for teaching your toddlers when used in moderation. Toddlers can become used to controlling technology, and many apps are on the market that engage your child and can help them learn about colors, language, math, and other important essentials.

Monkey Preschool Lunchbox

This app from Thup.com has a silly name, but it offers a wide variety of educational tools for toddlers and other preschool children. It teaches colors, shapes, and numbers by helping a monkey pack a lunchbox. It has 6 games in total, an engaging monkey mascot, unlimited play mode, sticker rewards, and voice recordings to help your child's language skills. It's available for iOS and Android devices for $0.99 and $1.99 respectively.

Zoola Animals

Can't get out to the zoo as often as your toddler would like? If they had it their way, they would be living with the animals. Instead of letting your kid get raised by wolves, consider the Zoola Animals app to occupy the animal loving part of their brain. This app (which runs for $3.99 and is available on iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire platforms) teaches your child about animals with pictures and sounds. Available at Common Sense Media, it has an interface that's easy to use and takes great advantage of touchscreen controls.

Peekaboo Barn

Another animal-centric app is Peekbaoo Barn, available for iOS and Android. This app, available from NightAndDayStudios.com, teaches your child about different barnyard animals, with colorful animations and clear sounds. In addition, this also helps expose your child to different languages, as you have the option for 9 different languages, covering Mandarin, Spanish, English, French, and others. You also have the option to record your own voice for the app, allowing your child to learn while hearing a familiar voice instead of unknown narrators. This app costs $1.99 and has a lite version to try out for free.

Kids ABC Letters

Need some reinforcement on the alphabet? Intellijoy has the Kids ABC Letters app available on iOS and Android platforms with a free lite version or a $3.99 full version from the Google Play Store. This app helps your child learn how to recognize and say their letters. In addition, they practice skills such as letter-forming and finding the letters within a word. It has four different sections for children to explore.

PicsArt for Kids

Incorporate some artistic enjoyment in your toddler's life without getting paint all over the walls with this free app for Android. PicsArt for Kids, also available at the Google Play Store, provides a digital coloring book for your child to enjoy, as well as an empty canvas mode for the toddler to unleash their creativity and imagination.