By Adrienne Wichard-Edds

It’s incumbent upon every older generation to marvel at the newest iteration of electronic gadgets, but I truly mourn for my 10-year-old self when I browse the toy aisles at Target looking for gifts for my not-quite-’tween niece.

A “High School Musical” instructive dance mat? The opportunity to show off your moves in front of your friends (and learn new ones!) with Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution? An interactive Hannah Montana game that lets you dance alongside Ms. Montana and help shop for her concert wardrobe?

How painfully much I wanted to be a rock star during the “Material Girl” era. My desire was channeled into makeshift basement spectacles that I forced my parents and their friends to attend. But while I probably wasn’t tapping my greatest creative reserves when I employed the hairbrush-as-microphone trick, I have to imagine how much cooler would my homemade performances have been with the assistance of, say, the “American Idol” Talent Challenge.

* Recall information: Go to the government’s Consumer Product Safety website to get the latest information about toy recalls.

* List of Hazardous Toys from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (WFAA.com)

With an eye on the holiday buying season, Toys “R” Us has identified seven types of hot toys for 2007 — the above would likely fall into the “Hey! You’re a Rock Star!” category, along with other plug-in-able gizmos, like the self-instructional I Can Play Guitar and Activision’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
Other hot toy trends, according to the “R” Us empire, include:

• All things pink.
• Toys that encourage kids to get on their feet and get active — the new generation of Razor scooters that includes a Vespa-like “pocket” scooter, for example.
• Toys that have internet connectivity.
• “Transforming and robotic toys,” like the Transformers Ultimate Bumblebee for $89.99.

In every demographic, in fact, it seems there’s a hot toy that gets a boost from an external media interface.
EyeClops, a creepy-cool giant bionic eyeball that plugs into your TV, magnifies everything in its “sight” up to 200 times and displays it on the television screen.

Fisher-Price’s new Smart Cycle looks like a toddler-sized stationary bike, but when plugged into a TV, it offers kids everything from customized virtual scenery to learning games to an arcade-style game experience.

There are two rulers of the virtual pet category: WebKinz (furry little pets that come with a “secret code” which allows their owners to create an online world in which to interact with and care for their pets) and FurReal Friends (animatronic, responsive new buddies).

Both Fisher-Price and Vtech have introduced kid-friendly digital cameras; I’ve seen my preschool-aged sons covet these. And while both cameras offer a realistic digital-picture-taking experience with the ability to download photos to a home computer, the Vtech model also allows kids to customize photos with silly effects and fun frames, then turns into a handheld electronic game when your kid gets bored with taking pictures.

So which hotly coveted toys will be responsible for the grab-what-you-can buying frenzies this holiday season? A 10th anniversary edition of Tickle Me Elmo teams up with fellow “T.M.X.” (the “X” stands for “10″) pals Cookie Monster and Ernie in hopes of re-creating the retail madness inspired by the original doll. These have already sold out at many of the big chain stores.

Nintendo’s newest video game console, the motion-sensitive and interactive Wii (pronounced “we”), is already out of stock at most major online retailers and is selling for more than twice its original $250 price tag on online auction sites.

Hot toy lists and marketing campaigns aside, I found my sure-fire hit in my friend Alison’s car while changing out car seats in the preschool parking lot: Her older daughter had left on the back seat what looked like a Rubik’s Cube with all the colors blacked out and the center piece on each side missing.

When I asked her if her daughter had been dissecting the cube in an attempt to shortcut to the solution, Alison said, “Oh no. Have you seen these? It’s like a cross between Simon and a Rubik’s Cube. It’s addictive.”

Say no more, my friend, because you just named the two things that kept me happy and quiet for hours on end throughout much of my childhood. And as a mom of two raucous boys, I know that as much fun as the spectacle of an “American Idol”-quality performance may be, a toy (like this Rubik’s Revolution) that inspires contemplative silence can be the best gift of all.

Copyright © 2007 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Subscribe in a reader