The demand for children's educational toys is rising. This is because more and more parents are appreciating the value these products bring to their kids - who wouldn't want something that has learning and play combined into one fantastic product?
In fact, in 2005 alone, while the sales of traditional toys like Hot Wheels and Barbie dolls declined, sales of educational toys skyrocketed, with popular children's educational toy manufacturer LeapFrog seeing its figures increase by a whopping 120 percent.
LeapFrog's most popular educational toy to date is the Leapster L-Max Learning Game System. It is created especially for elementary level children and preschoolers. It carries a variety of games and can easily be plugged into any monitor or television set to play on the large screen. It is a kiddie alternative to the PlayStation.
It is for this reason that toy manufacturers all over the world are upping their ante on children's educational toys and have begun making their own product lines to try to emulate the success experienced by LeapFrog.
Chicago-based toy manufacturer PIL has also come up with toys that are based on popular family movies for its Story Reader electronic book. Some of the films that have been adapted include The Lion King, The Incredibles, and Chicken Little. The product has long term value because children only need to buy the device one time and just purchase story cartridges, thereafter.
Walt Disney Co's Disney Consumer Products, for instance, came up with a new educational game titled "Finding Nemo: Learning With Nemo", which features an underwater adventure that teaches children number and letter recognition in the preschool level. The company has also partnered with V-Tech to manufacture a device that teaches children how to use the phone properly and instills correct telephone etiquette, called the Call 'N Learn Phone.
Another toy company, Warner Bros Consumer Products also teamed up with major toy manufacturers to create educational toys and games based on its popular animated series', like Batman and Looney Tunes. Even Scooby-Doo was not spared from having a Vtech smartridge created in its name; where children are being taught math, logic and spelling, all while going through a haunted adventure at an amusement park.
Toy manufacturers are increasingly realizing the gains that educational toys can bring to their revenues. Thus, their researchers constantly try to develop new products that tickle parents' and children's hunger for so-called combination toys.
