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).
The Fisher-Price Apptivity Gymsnap works by snapping phone or iPod Touch into a child-proof container.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.
A version of this article appeared in print on 05/02/2013, on page B11 of the NewYork edition with the headline: At Play in a Baby Gym, Assisted by an App Wrinkle.