Apps for iPad to surf your way through the winter blues

Oh Canadian winter, how you deceived me one again. Right when I had just become comfortable with the level of chill and rain (I even pulled out my lined hoodie, just to stay a little warmer) you flipped the switch on me and covered me in snow.

And not just any snow. Instead of the light, fluffy, isn’t it pretty, oh-look-its-melting type, you choose to drop the ice cold, thick, heavy and hard to drive in type of snow. The snow that shuts down an entire city and keeps me housebound, often with 4 small children who spend the day asking me to actually go outside and sit in it.

The bonus to this type of weather? I have a roof over my head, several small creatures who love to sit on my feet to keep them warm, and an iPad full of content to keep me busy. When you get the winter blues, flip the switch on the app store and check out a few of my cabin fever favorites:

Thematica Cars in Sandbox

This isn’t an app specifically for me, but any app that keeps my 2 year old busy for as long as this one does is high up on my most loved. Cars in Sandbox lets you pick a truck to drive through a virtual sandbox. Tap to start it up, push it to drive. Some trucks have scoopers, some are dump trucks, and you can even open the doors and watch it idle.

To say that this is a young truck-lovers dream come true is an understatement. This app is bright, colorful, and engaging. I can’t say enough about it, and at $1.99 is a steal for the amount of peace and quiet it buys.

Faces iMake by iMagine machine

Another kids app, but I love to play with this one too. Faces iMake lets you doodle on your own photos or create a masterpiece with different fruit, buttons, bows, and almost any object you can think of. You can take lessons in how to decorate your own faces or just improvise.

And the entire time it plays cute little songs that, even if you are in the worst mood, can’t help but make you smile. Try it, you’ll love it.

Visualize Success with Andrew Johnson

You just can’t beat the lull of a Scottish accent. When I start this app up, I imagine Mel Gibson in Brave Heart, before he turned all crazy and stuff.

I picked up this app when I was looking for something to help me sleep. I can definitely say that it works in that regard. As far as achieving success from it, I have no idea. I have listened it it three times, and each time I fell into a deep sleep while it was on. When I woke up, I had no idea what type of subliminal messaging they implanted in my brain. I’ve asked my husband to hide the knives, just in case it’s an anti-husband type of message.

iSad lamp

I haven’t tried this one myself, but I found it in the app store and it’s so unbelievable that it deserves a mention.

You know how certain people, say people who live in Northern Pacific climates and don’t get exposed to enough sunlight, end up feeling blue in the winter? Their toes curl up into their body like the bad witch in Wizard of Oz and they get that patchy grey look on their faces that comes with an increase in gloom and a decrease in light. Sometimes a UV lamp will help those people. You can buy UV lamps at Costco now without a prescription, or you can download the iSad lamp from the app store.

Apparently daily iSad sessions will re-kindle your interest in interacting with the outside world, as well as stop you from stuffing your face with cookies and hot chocolate in an effort to compensate for your cabin fever.

If you try it, let me know what you think.

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No, having a tablet computer full of fun apps won’t take the edge off winter every single day, but it certainly helps you out in a pinch. And sometimes that 5 minute break is all you need to get through the next hour.

Now please pray for sunshine to melt this snow. If I have to endure one more argument about bacon and who gets to eat it all, I’m not sure if I will survive the rest of the month.