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Tech Toys for Tots

What Youngsters Are Begging for This Holiday Season May Surprise You

If you ask 5-year-old Gavin O'Farrell what's hot at Toys "R" Us, his answer may surprise you.

If you're shopping for a kid this holiday season, forget the teddy bears.

It's not the fuzzy toys or the sports equipment or even the Lego sets.

"The electronic games," the pint-size consumer told us.

He then specified, "I want two Leapsters, Mom."

Many of the hottest sellers this year are tech toys -- for kids as young as 2.

Some of these must-haves include a digital camera shaped like a giant eyeball, a starter computer and a machine that connects to kid-friendly Web sites.

For many kids, the make-believe versions just don't cut it anymore.

Three-year-old Christian Aldrich has a real iPod.

His mother, Lorraine, appeared to justify the purchase: "He knows how to use it better than my husband."

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Whatever happened to the regular old stuffed animal?

Prescott Carlson, who runs a parenting Web site and has a 4-year-old with an MP3 player, said kids are just imitating their wired parents.

"It's almost like high-tech dress-up," he said.

This may also explain why toy cell phones are hot sellers this year -- even if kids are just using it to call Grandma.

Some child psychologists worry that tech toys don't fire the imagination the way old-fashioned ones did.

The mother of Leapster-toting Gavin O'Farrell said, "They're used to everything being so quick and -- you know -- flashing at them. Would they be better if they sat in their rooms with stuffed animals? Maybe."

But in this tech-saturated age, kids like Gavin will have a tough time avoiding these toys that may not fire the imagination but that certainly dominate their wish lists this holiday season.

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