Toys seem to be of increasing interest to geographers (well, Nigel Thrift
has done a paper on them, which is usually a good sign of a subject's near
future fashion status ;-)). Here are a couple of toys for this Christmas
that seemt o be perfectly in tune with the times. (again, forwarded and
adapted from nettime).
David
The perfect christmas gift for that patriotic 5 year old on your list?
http://www3.jcpenney.com/jcp/Products.asp?GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=05b5baa&
Forward Command Post
$44.99
Take command of your soldiers from
this fully outfitted battle zone. 75-piece
set includes one 11?"H figurine in
military combat gear, toy weapons,
American flag, chairs and more.
Assembled dimensions; 32x16x32"H.
Plastic. 10 lbs. Ages 5 and up.
Capitalism for beginners?
Educational tech toys are high on parents' to buy lists this Christmas,
according to Wired's Leander Kahney:
http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,56800,00.html
A big hit with her two year old is the Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart:
http://www.leapfrog.com/products/prdt_leapfrog.jhtml?id=learnshoppingcart
'Well-made and sturdy, the supermarket trolley comes with a variety of
plastic food items -- bananas, packets of cereal -- that can be scanned with
a handheld scanner attached to the cart. Pass an item in front of the
scanner, and the cart speaks its name and the number of items. Scan the item
again, and the cart speaks its color, the food group and its nutritional
benefit.
'Aimed at preschoolers, the cart is billed as teaching numbers, counting,
quantities and simple food facts. . .
'Lyle preferred the exploratory mode and its free-form play. The game mode,
when asked to find certain items, was not altogether successful. Lyle had no
trouble finding the first item asked for but lost interest before finding
the second one, preferring to scan items at random.'
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