As more of the very young reach for their parents’ smartphones, toy companies are responding with motion-sensing, app-infused toys like the Fisher-Price Apptivity Gym ($35, www.fisher-price.com).
Here’s how this particular toy works. After you download one of the free Apptivity apps and adjust the timer and music settings, you snap your phone or iPod Touch into a child-proof container attached to the plastic “gym’’ on which the child plays. If you search iTunes for “Apptivity†you can find several free apps, including B ‘n W High Contrast in which interesting animals peek from the sides of the screen with large faces. You can speed things along with any bump or a random touch of the screen.
The dirty little secret is that the free apps work perfectly well on their own, with no toy. In fact, a resourceful parent might attach an old iPod Touch onto the side of a playpen with Velcro. But Fisher-Price is banking on the idea that its toys extend the screen interface, and that the motion-sensing graphics make things more engaging. The Apptivity Gym doesn’t fit larger iPhone 5 devices, and it’s worth noting that when your device is removed, say, for a phone call, a low-tech mirror steps in.
