Following the success of iPod-friendly toys like the i-Dog and iZ, toy makers are releasing several new products aimed at iPod-toting pre-teens. The toys, being shown at this week’s American International Toy Fair trade expo, include electronic musical instruments, chairs with built-in speakers, and new interactive products.
Blue Box, known for its military toys and preschool products, is coming out with a line of Apple-like white electronic musical instruments that allow children to jam to music on their iPod. The toy collection includes a stage mike, mixer, drumsticks and guitar.
MGA Entertainment is releasing a new kid’s chair under its popular Bratz brand that doubles as an iPod speaker. The company is also introducing palm-sized Petz—a rabbit, pig, frog, and cat—that can be connected to an iPod and respond to the music by moving and lighting up.
Corgi has announced the iCar, a 1:24 scale model car that rocks to the music from your iPod. It’s available in two models—a Cadillac Escalade and a Nissan 240SX—and also features “colored lights that illuminate the wheel wells, rims, undercarriage, engine and trunk areas, and the high-quality speaker pumps out the sound.”
Spin Master has introduced two iPod-friendly toys—the iDrum and iMix. The toys are plastic cases for the iPod that also allow kids to enhance their tunes. The iDrum features a small drum pad on the back of the case, enabling a child to create beats and rhythms, while the iMix lets them create scratching DJ sounds over the music.
For those with younger children, Baby Einstein Co. has introduced a rocking chair that connects to an iPod, and Emerson Radio has an iPod-compatible SpongeBob SquarePants speaker system. And the list goes on. “The iPod is the No. 1 toy. My view is why fight them? Why not join them?” said Isaac Larian, chief executive of MGA.
