In this day in age attention spans are at an all time low. Think about yourself when was the last time you could fully 100% pay attention to something or anything? I know I find it difficult and with so manu distractions in life life becomes faster paced and companies are finding better ways to keep our interests. We are not the only ones experiencing attention spans reduction; our kids are finding that life at an early age moves much faster than when we were kids. Companies are pushing forward to add entertainment value to every toy or item made for kids at an alarming rate.



With the release of Webkinz Plush Pets by Ganz kids are not only being entertained by a physical product but also an imaginary product by entering the Webkinz Virtual Online world. I remember back to when I was a kid and GI Joes with there rubber band spines to me seemed amazingly cool. Toys in todays world blow anything I've seen as a child away and they are only going to get more elaborate over time. TMX Friends release in the fall of 2007 and are the follow up to the Tickle me Extreme Elmo or (TMX ELMO). TMX Friends Ernie, and Cookie Monster have different triggers that are stimulated when a child tickles the doll. The TMX Friends fall to the floor laughing uncontrollably when tickled by a child. Different areas of the dolls have different sensors which allow different reactions and tickling the doll multiple times sends the doll into a spastic attack of laughing fits. Toys like this are beginning to really captivate children and grab their attention.

Nintendo released the Wii in the fall of 2006 and introduced a new style of gaming that reacts to physical motion. When you play baseball on the Nintendo Wii you actually swing the controller like a bat and pitch the ball with a move of the remote control. Many toys that are not going in the direction of revolutionary are falling to the way side and becoming less popular. Shortly it could be that if a toy offers only the childs imagination and doesn't spark interactivity it may not become popular at all. Russ Shining Stars offer kids a chance to not only buy a plush pet and play games online but they can also register their very own star in the galaxy. After registering their star they can then print out a galaxy map and look at where their star is located in the known universe.If Webkinz and TMX Friends and Shining Stars are any indicator that interactivity is the modern revolution for kids toys, the industry will need to find the best ways possible to spark creativity in interactivity in the near future. Toys failing to follow similar suit may become obsolete and stale and not captivate a kids imagination. Short of releasing a total virtual reality system that becomes life like toys are getting more and more advanced and closer to one on one interactivity without another human being being present.