ABSTRACT
Many of the newest toys designed for young children incorporate technological enhancements, such as computer chips that make toys “talk” or “act” in certain ways. Although these technology-enhanced toys have become increasingly popular with parents and children, there is little research on how children play with such toys. Thus, little is known about how these toys may or may not affect children’s play. Parents, toy makers, and early childhood educators all have questions about the potential positive and negative impacts of such toys, which may have highly salient “affordances” (characteristics that suggest their use). It is presently unknown whether such toys reduce or add to play creativity, channel play in prosocial or antisocial ways, positively or negatively influence children’s cognitive, social-emotional, or language development, or affect the way children play with traditional toys (Bergen, 2001).
