This Christmas, ambitious parents will spend a small fortune on high-technology toys that claim to lift the intelligence of their progeny, yet child development experts argue that a set of play bricks or a cardboard box would do the job just as well. What’s the real story in toy town? …

Reyne Rice of the Toy Industry Association in New York said that demographic changes were behind the growth in demand for learning toys. “More than 30 percent of babies born in the U.S. are to affluent moms aged 25-plus, who consider education a No. 1 priority for their children,” she said. Those families, she added, “are willing to do whatever it takes to give their kids a head start in life.” …

Many in the industry question the desirability of exposing children to targeted learning at a very young age. Krister Svensson, director of the International Toy Research Center in Stockholm, said that educational toys might even be harmful. “Parents who use learning toys to hothouse their child can become frustrated if the child is not progressing as fast as they would like,” he said. “The seeds of failure can be sown before the child learns to talk. Ideally, the act of play must be come from the child’s point of view - not the parent’s.” …

Of the 1,000 teachers that took part in the survey, 60 percent said that they would consider using video games for educational purposes. The majority of the teachers polled said they believed that mainstream games could lead to improved skills and knowledge.

Source: International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/24/yourmoney/mtoys.php?page=1