The Season's Hot New Toys

Dec. 1, 2003 -- It's a jungle out there. Your local Wal-Mart or Toys "R" Us is stuffed with brand-new toys and games — most of them loaded up with high-tech sounds, movement or lights.

For the occasional gift giver, toy land can be very confusing. Thousands of new products are introduced each holiday season. Most toys that were on the shelves this time last year have been replaced with newer items. The toy industry estimates there are about 100,000 different brands on the market

Shopping for kids demands some homework before you buy. "Look at what's out there," suggests toy consumer expert Joanne Oppenheim. "Have a look, too, at home before you go shopping, and see what your child has played with this year."

Oppenheim and others who follow the rapidly changing toy industry also urge shoppers to get past the bells and whistles. "Children need toys that let them pretend and do all the story making themselves," she says.

Chips for a Wriggle, Song and Dance

Hokey Pokey Elmo by Fisher-Price is this year's must-have novelty toy. Thanks to its "chips inside," Elmo can sing, wriggle, and dance his way into children's hearts.

The goofy little doll is great for a giggle, and is another example of how microchips are changing the toy business.

Also new this year is Limbo Elmo. It bends over backward and invites children to do the limbo too.

While microchips embedded in toys can control their speech and movements, lower chip prices have expanded the range of functions toys can now "perform."

Many video games for children are sold not in toy stores but at Circuit City, Best Buy and other consumer electronics outlets.

Touch Technology Toys Touch a New High

Touch technology is changing the growing range of educational games. Leapster All-Learning Game System by Leapfrog and Power Touch Learning System from Fisher Price both get high marks.

"Leapster is very exciting because it has the power of an Apple or a Mac classic computer running on batteries,"says Warren Buckleitner, editor of the Children's Software Review. "You can take it anywhere. It's easy to use."

Powertouch is similar to the Leapster, but is aimed at younger children under the age of 5. "Powertouch is ideal for an early reader," says Buckleitner. "You can open it to any page and it just turns on automatically. It knows what page it's on and you just touch."

"Children can use Powertouch on their own without their parents," says learning specialist Kristen Alexander, who worked with Fisher Price to develop the new system. "It has 200 touch points on each page available for the child to touch."

"Touch a picture to play," says one of the electronic books. It speaks to the child and points out the name and spelling for animals and other characters on the page.

Tips for Toy Shopping

Buckleitner also urges parents to look carefully before they buy: "There are a lot of toys that are noisy and not worth the batteries. They don't have enough content to keep them going."

Children's Software Review plays with the new games and makes recommendations. The Web site is www.childrenssoftware.com. Oppenheim and her daughter, Stephanie Oppenheim, supply a great deal of free consumer information on their Web site. Their top picks for different age ranges can be found on www.toyportfolio.com.

Information about toy safety can be found on the Toy Industry Association's Web site: www.toyhotline.org.

One encouraging trend this year is volume controls and on/off switches. Many new toys now come with both. That's a relief for parents, who have complained that loud toys can be a major annoyance.

‘Like Street Walkers in Training’

Another tip for parents this year is to consider what sort of message you are sending. Many dolls, for instance, come loaded with 'tude. My Scene Barbie is a new version of the famous doll. My Scene comes with glossy lips and trendy clothes.

Bratz dolls are very successful, but also controversial. "I think the images they are projecting to young girls are somewhat questionable," says Joanne Oppenheim.

"All the things that people complain about with Barbie are just more so with these dolls. They really look like street walkers in training."

While you may not agree, it is worth checking to see if sexy, curvy dolls are something you think a 7- or 8-year-old child should be playing with.

Some of the best toys come from simple ideas: Lego blocks, for example, or Beyblade R/C Spinning Top by Mattel. Beyblade's battery-powered starter gives the top much longer spinning time.

Some good gift ideas come for less than $10. "Art supplies are always a good choice, " says Stephanie Oppenheim. "Kids love getting a basket full of markers, crayons and paper."

Many games are inexpensive, and they provide a way for you to spend hours of time playing with your children. Over the holidays, nothing is better than that.