Fisher-Price had plenty of upgrades to its already successful product lines to show off at this year's Toy Fair. First outta the gate (literally, at the gate) are the Elmo Tickle Hands ($29.99, left). When activated by pressing Elmo's nose, the furry gloves laugh and vibrate like the original Tickle Me Elmo. Pressing the nose again activates the Hands' dance mode, which guides kids step by step through a new dance routine.
More after the jump!
We also got to peep a new prototype from the Dora the Explorer line: Tweenage Dora (rendering shown). The doll, which stands about a foot tall, hooks up to your PC and automatically launches into a new online world. From Dora's online room, girls can change her eye color, hair length, jewelry, and more. The really cool part: When you change Dora on the screen the doll changes, as well. The site will also have tons of mystery and puzzle games. Tween Dora will be available in the fall for $59.99 (coordinating accessories will able be available).
There is also no shortage of interactive gaming toys for kids 3 and up. On the heels of the original Smart Cycle system are the Smart Sports Pack ($64.99), which is similar to Wii Sports, offering foam attachments for baseball, tennis, and golfing games. The Smart Fit Pack ($39.99) looks like a cross between Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution; the plug-and-play pad comes loaded with 18 active learning games that incorporate running, jumping, stomping, and walking with activities to bone up on colors, numbers, and more.
Missing the mess of splatter-based spin art? (Well, maybe not the mess, but you get the idea...) The Splatter Brush system ($54.99) plugs into your TV's RCA jack lets you create and export digital spin art, free-hand paintings with everything from spaghetti to ketchup, or play games in the "Splat Arcade." The wireless brush interacts with a sensor to let kids make as big of a mess onscreen as they like. You can also load creations to a memory card to save and print.
Ever been "Elphed"? Now your kids can, too. My Toon TV ($69.99) takes a snapshot of a face with its onboard camera and lets you load it on one of on-screen 11 characters (like a cowboy). Once loaded, your character will sing and dance along with one of the system's five preloaded songs or a track from a connected music player.
My Toon TV, Splatter Brush and Smart products will be available in summer, 2009.
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February 25, 2009 1:54 AM
The reality is that little girls are not going to want play with Dora in their Tween Years, because Dora for nine years has been a Preschool property. Think about it... what tween-aged girl wants to be the one to hear from her friends the question "you play with Dora?" When Nickelodeon realized they had a hit with Dora they wisely decided to develop a boy brand and cartoon, "Diego". They should have developed a new Tween cartoon, a sister, a cousin, something like our Cecilia {Ceci}; a Hip Chica on our virtual world www.hipchicas.com that is a true Tween property with a green mission to Help Improve the Planet [HIP] and has a Tween Latina-theme and characters girls can embrace as their own. Yes I am the CEO and creator of the Hip Chicas, but I am also the father of three Tween daughters and this attempt not only will not work, but as a Toy Company CEO recently told me, "it could do damage to the preschool Dora as well." I wish them the best, but i have no doubt that this ill conceived idea may be destined to fail.