Top Toys for Christmas 2009

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Well there are quite a few to choose from and infinately more games to play but without doubt the biggest seller for christmas 2009 will most assuredly be the Nintendo Wii.

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The Nintendo Wii, while revolutionary, is the "Everybody" console. Their new controller design offers unique motion-sensitive gameplay options and built-in Wi-Fi delivers free online services, unlimited downloadable games and features and of course, gameplay. Put simply, being able to wave a white controller at your TV to play golf or turn a little white wire-free steering wheel to drive cute Wii Mario Kart is totally irresitable to even the most hardened skeptic. Priced reasonably, it remains accessable to the masses and nobody knows this better than Nintendo themselves. They have made it compatible with all GameCube games like the fabulous Wii Mario Kart, World of Goo and Sonic the Hedgehog and developed new and unusual ways of getting us hooked.

Imagine the nerve of marketing a games console to make you fit? Using the new step pad you can follow your own specically designed excercise regime with Wii Fit. Needless to say they are flying off the shelves.

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The Wii does have a couple of things that could do with improvement. For instance the controllers eat batteries, the graphics aren't quite cutting edge and you can't play CDs or DVDs on the console. Barring these the Wii is a blast and immensely popular.

A Cautionary Tale
My 4 year old went to a cousin's 7th birthday party this summer. His Dad took him. This particular batch of cousins had only just moved into a fabulous new house they had designed and built in the countryside. Brimming with pride they decided to have said party in the house instead of going to one of these play centres. Anyway, the party was full of kids between the ages of about 2 and 10 and dispite the unusual spell of good weather, the main attraction was not the bouncy castle, but the Wii. Now the Wii Sport game comes with the console and tennis seemed to be the flavour of the day. They were enjoying it no-end particularly with the 52 inch flat screen TV....see where I'm going here?

My husband became aware of shouting and crying coming from the living room. Kids (including my own)were fleeing in all directions, mainly in the opposite direction to the TV and a small 4 year old child stood bawling while her mother gave her an almighty tongue-lashing. The party came to an abrupt end and guests left politely and rapidly but mostly thankful that it wasn't their child who did it.

Apparently, whilst enjoying a game of tennis little Zoe had forgotten to loop her hand through the controller tether and during a particularly aggressive backhand volley, let fly the controller and totaled the TV! Beyond repair. Finito. Kaput. Very sad. Snigger

It wasn't, as they say, out of the trees that Fisher-Price plucked their brilliant kid tough digital camera. No. It is the culmination of decades of research and development, tried and tested by millions of snap happy children down through the years and the exploitation of ever-more cutting edge technology. Get a load of these little beauties. I bet you will recognise at least one. I bet the kid down the road had one and you were seething with jealousy underneath the pained, teeth-clenched grin you pulled as you stood to have your picture taken.

This was the first Fisher-Price toy camera ever produced called the Picture Story Camera and the very beginnings of kiddie photography (pretend, of course at this stage). It was 1967. That's over 40 years ago. It was made of wood and had 8 built-in images of a visit to the farmyard. Press the button to see the next image and make the square flash on top move around. Any child would have given their right arm for this on christmas morning. Things haven't changed too much then. Hell I'd give my right arm for it now. I just love the little flash there on top.

The following year in 1968 huge advances were made and Fisher-Price produced two new cameras in which the lucky child could view a series of pictures through the viewfinder. The first of these was the Changeable Picture Disc Camera, complete with 5 picture discs of such favourites as "Animals and Their Babies", Goldilocks and the three Bears and nursery Rhymes to beat the band. It was red plastic at the front and white wood at the back and featured an adjustable lens which changed the pictures different colours, a button to move the disc on to the next picture and of course, the ever-popular rotating square flash on top. The second disc camera was the Music Box Movie Camera. It used the same picture discs as the Changeable Picture Disc Camera. A knob at the side was wound up and when the child squeezed the trigger on the handle the camera played "This Old Man" as the picture disc moved around. At the side was a storage compartment for spare discs and a transparent window so the child could see the workings of the camera as it whirred. Can you imagine? A real professional movie maker, and still only 4.

In 1974 things trimmed down a bit and Fisher-Price introduced the Pocket Camera. This little toy was so popular that its production continued until 1991. Modelled on the Kodak camera of the day the pocket camera was two-tone red and white plastic this time, with a whopping 27 in-built images of a Trip to the Zoo. This time the colour could be changed with the rotating flash. Now I am a child of the 70s and I remember this camera. Not because I had one...no! My rotton cousin had it and I can't tell you how much I wanted to beat hell out of him and run away with it! He would hand it over and I would see 1 or 2 pictures and get a couple of oh-so-satisfying clicks before it would be snatched away again and I had to wait days before the next go...if it was so ordained! I also remember him having a pool table later - but that's another story!

Of course there was an up-dated version of the Pocket Camera and it was this little yellow beauty. This more realistic 35mm design came into production in 1994. It had 24 pictures, a slider on the front to move them on and a pop-up flash. Great stuff! My memories of this one are very vivid. I loved the sliding action at the front.

IT seems that somewhere in the early 80s Fisher Price recognised the need to produce an actual working camera for children alongside the big selling pretend versions. So by 1984 Fisher-Price teamed up with Kodak to produce the first REAL camera for children called...wait for it...The Fisher-Price Camera. It took 110 Kodacolor film (12 exposures), required no batteries and had big, kid-sized buttons and shock-resistant ends (ah, now we're getting somewhere). Can you imagine the pictures that came out of this thing? All of which had to be paid for to be printed. Can you imagine the expense? Or the tales that ticked-off parents told their little ones about how "they don't make film for your camera anymore Love"!

In 1997 Fisher-Price made the leap into 35mm with the Perfect Shot camera for 5 year olds and over. This camera was specially adapted for kids by having a duel-eye view finder for easy focusing, handles on both sides so it could be kept steady, a built-in flash, manual film advance and my favourite feature of all - a key to lock the film door to prevent accidental exposure. And in true child-focused, Fisher-Price style the key was attached to the neck strap so it wouldn't get lost. Priceless! This camera was available until very recently when Fisher-Price made the final leap into digital.

So before you choose a toy this christmas consider its heritage and the thousands of kids who were excited to a squeel when they found one of its gorgeous predecessors under the tree one christmas.