Kids to play as adults with hot doodads
Less ‘dumbing down’ and more interactive playthings in store
Child’s play is
NEW YORK CITY about to get a lot more sophisticated.
The newest toys hitting the market this year, on display here this week at the Toy Industry Association’s annual Toy Fair, are all about letting kids mimic the adults in their life with interactive experiences. Baking kits with miniature kitchen tools equip kids to make treats worthy of posting on Pinterest — like cupcakes topped with a black-andwhite tuxedo frosting swirl or stained-glass sugar cookies. Battery-powered luxury toy cars are begging to be used in a recreation of The Italian Job’s riveting Mini Cooper car chase scene.
Even Cabbage Patch dolls have received a real-life upgrade, with LCD screens that create intense, moving eyes. The dolls also have sensors throughout their plush bodies that connect to an app that tracks behaviors such as feeding and sleep — like a 2016 version of the ’90s-era digital Giga Pet craze.
“What we wanted to do was complete a true baby experience,” says Jeremy Padawer, copresident of Wicked Cool Toys, which created the new Cabbage Patch doll.
Never mind the kids playing with the dolls often aren’t that much older than babies themselves. Toymakers at the fair say just because something is made for a child, doesn’t mean it has to be amateur.
That was the goal with the Real Cooking baking kits by Skyrocket Toys, which come with cake and cookie mixes and call for adding ingredients like eggs and oil from home.
“Skyrocket does a good job of not really dumbing down things, making them a real experience,” says Kristy Burns, vice president of marketing at Skyrocket. “It’s empowering for kids.”
For the Real Cooking kits, the company did indeed scour Pinterest for “the cutest, most delicious-looking treats” that kids could replicate with Real Cooking ’s utensils and other kitchen supplies that better fit their small hands, Burns says.
Some toys capitalize on the buzziest tech trends while others reimagine old-school classics. 3-D printers give way to 3-D pens, with the IDO3D Vertical pen from Redwood Ventures emitting photopolymer ink that instantly hardens with the help of a blue light surrounding the pen’s tip. The pens can be used to create a wide range of items — from a blob of ink squiggles or a roaring green dinosaur with yellow teeth.
Train tracks of Christmases past have been revamped by 116year-old toy train maker Lionel with flexible tracks that can be built in any direction and remotecontrolled race cars that do loopde-loops like a roller coaster. Instead of encircling a Christmas tree, these tracks could thread through the branches.
The Selfie Mic by Moose Toys is a kid-friendly mobile karaoke without the adult-friendly sake bombs. The working microphone sits at the end of a selfie stick.