It is no secret that toys have been changing in the last ten years. With all of the technological advances made by toy makers and manufacturers, the word "toy' means something completely different than it did to the past generations. Parents will remember when toys meant things like dolls, tea sets, non battery operated cars and trucks, train sets and Lego blocks. Their children however, will remember toys like Nintendo, X Box, Guitar Hero, Robot toys and remote controlled cars, trucks and planes.

Granted, there were some technological toys on the market ten years ago, but they were nowhere near the toys of today! If the toy making trends are to continue on as they have been, I am sure that the next ten years will find us buying robots for our children that have the ability to convert into a few different types of toys.

Ten years ago, the top few toys on the market that children were asking for were toys like the Furby, the Tickle Me Elmo, the Tamagotchi, Beanie Babies and the Teletubbies. There was nothing too technological about these types of toys, and all parents understood them, and how they worked. (Except for the Tamagotchi - some parents may have had some trouble understanding what the point of an electronic pet was!) After that year, the next fads in toys were toys such as, the Baby Furby and, believe it or not, the Yo Yo! The Yo Yo came back on the scene after being completely redone and presented as the new and improved ProYo. Baby Furby was just as big a hit as the Furby of the year before, and toy stores made a good profit off of this interactive toy.

After these toy trends were over, the TV show, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" hit the airwaves, and of course, the board game came out before Christmas and was asked for by many kids that year. Along with this popular game came some toys that were a lot more technologically advanced than the toys of Christmas past. One example of this type of toy is the robotic pet. This toy was very popular with both parents and kids, because it provided a type of surrogate for a real pet, without being smelly, dirty or noisy. The robotic pet did a lot of real, pet like things without the hassle of having to care for a real pet. It was also a great idea for families with pet allergies.

After the robotic pet, technology basically took over the toy industry, and now there are toys like, more advanced robotic toys, video games, X Box, Guitar Hero, Nintendo Wii and all of the plug and play games. There are actually toys that allow kids to exercise without even stepping outside! There are still toys in the stores that are like the ones we had years ago, such as doll, cars, train sets, and the like, but kids these days are asking more for the technological toys. Toys have almost become a popularity contest - kids want what their friends have, and if they don't own certain toy, they are not "cool" to their classmates.