Technology seizes toys

The dolls that come to life or the interactive pets compete with the table games and the constructions of a lifetime



     Games of ingenuity, construction and technological devices. The letter to the Three Kings is increasingly full of electronic and interactive toys, in which chips, hard drives and connectivity are essential for the little ones to entertain themselves.

The Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers (AEFJ) is convinced that the 2017 Christmas campaign will be very positive, with data that suggest that the figures recorded in 2016 will be exceeded. Last year, the sector grew by 6.8 % in Spain to 1,352 million euros and more than 76 million units sold. The fact that up to the month of October the increase in 2017 was 5% invites this climate of optimism.

In addition, the AEFJ notes that in the letters received by the kings of the East, more and more traditional devices coexist with more technological bets. Plasticine figures that come to life through an application, dolls that dance with a hologram effect or those 'magic' that ride on horseback; Babies who learn to walk, interactive pets that show their feelings or interactive clues now rival the table games and ingenuity and more traditional construction toys.

Special attention to age warnings
Whether or not the youngest of the house has an innate ability to handle new technologies, experts insist that the toy (whatever its category) must be appropriate to the child's age. Therefore, from the Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers (AEFJ) also a series of tips are made to the time that the Magi get hit with gifts for children.

Thus, the toy store recommends reading all the labeling, taking into account safety and age advice. For this, the appropriate toy must be chosen for the skills and abilities of the children. "Do not be fooled by excessive price differences in seemingly equal products. A safe product is more expensive to manufacture than another that is not. The difference between copies and originals is usually in worse materials, bad finishes or poor performance, some aspects that will put at risk the safety of users, "defends this association, which recommends always buy in shops or stores 'on line' of confidence .

Once at home, the instructions for assembling and using the toy must be carefully followed, without modifying its characteristics. It is advisable for an adult to supervise the child's play, in order to ensure that all toys are used in the manner indicated and that they are not misused, which could be dangerous.

Of course, licensed toys, which are those that correspond to the main film and television premieres, continue to have a great weight for this market with a share of 27%.

In fact, the analysis conducted in Spain by Amazon ensures that the children's characters of film and television will again be the main requests for gifts from children. But, in addition, this (gigantic) store emphasizes that, according to the results of the study, the electronic toy, such as the 'Yo-kai Watch', which is placed in the first position of the wish list of the More smalls. Creative toys are also placed in the 'top 10' of Christmas, led by 'Lego Boost' and the 'Bunchems' of Bizak.

Monitor connectivity
The fact that toys are increasingly "smart" and technological also entails a greater risk that minors will be exposed. In fact, it is not the first time that a toy brand recognizes that hackers have accessed the data left behind this type of toys: user names, ages, IP addresses, passwords and even GPS location that identify the less.

Therefore, it is recommended to monitor especially the connectivity of these connected products; do not use real data; as well as reinforce common sense even more when it comes to using them. In this sense, Alfonso Ramírez, general director of Kaspersky Lab Iberia, points out that "it is of the utmost importance that parents take into account aspects that go beyond the fun of their children when choosing a toy and that consider the impact that they can have in their children and their families ", since these connected toys can be the" way in which criminals access our personal data. "