View a slide show of toys from the event." data-pin-do="buttonBookmark">
TOY STORY: Tech toys made their presence felt at the recent Canadian Toy Association annual toy fair. View a slide show of toys from the event.
Image: Courtesy of Pippa Wysong
TORONTO—Who says toys are just for kids? Several items unveiled at the recent Canadian Toy Association annual toy fair show just how far toys have come since the introduction of one-time high-tech wonders such as the Speak & Spell and 2-XL in 1978. Among a new generation of toys are an interactive robot with a beat-box function, remote-controlled airboats that travel on the floor, a roving Wi-Fi–connected robot that lets you see and hear things in your home remotely, and speeding toothbrush heads.
Slide Show: The latest toys from the fair
More than 100 booths packed with brightly colored wares were buzzing with activity at the Metro Toronto Convention Center this Jan. 24-26, where toy manufacturers, distributors and toy store reps showcased what's new for 2009 (the fair was not open to the general public). This included a sneak peek at a few handmade prototypes, such as WowWee's Joebot and Scholastic's Bristlebots. Scientific American.com got a preview of hot items that will surely keep kids (and adults) occupied in the months to come.
All toys are currently available unless otherwise indicated.
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6 Comments
Add CommentGee. Not impressed with any of these.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt looks like these toy makers are into "extreme ugly and couch potato". None of those toys will improve the child's imagination. I reckon before you can improve an imagination, you must first have one.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismostly pretty lame, especially the toothbrush one
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe webcam-bot thing and the force trainer are mildly interesting but the webcam does not have much use to it unless you are too lazy to get up and look into the other room your self and ,like the article said, check to see if your door is locked when at work. the force thing could lead to some cooler toys and is t5he first product, as far as i am aware, to use "brain waves" outside of computers for disabled people
I must agree with Krabcat on the fact that everything is mostly pretty lame except for a little bit of updating on what kids will be able to do with their brain waves. I'm not sure why, but it just appears to me that the companies are trying to hard to make the littler kids feel like they are so cool because they can voice command a robot around their house and have it shoot infrared lasers at one another. <Total hippy moment here> This just tells them that fighting is alright and that they should do it. </hippy> Also, there were already little hover boats. Why do they think that we need newer "smaller" ones??? They'll just get stepped on by the parents when they don't see them and then they have to go out and buy the kid a new one to shut them up!!! Seriously, these things just aren't all that great.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLoved the tooth brush toy. Thought that the most silly one was the new improved kite.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe only toys that will keep kids occupied are the ones that they can use their imagination to create or design things with. See Leggo, Maccano and any construction toys, even simple building blocks. Make them more colorfull and fancy and they will hit the jackpot.
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