Remember those great Fisher-Price toys, like the barnyard and all its animals, from your childhood? Now the toy maker has re-imagined those favorites, bringing them into the age of tablets and touchscreens with its Apptivity line.
The Little People Apptivity Barnyard uses an iPad (your own) that you tuck into a grassy field and barn setting. When you move the animals, person, tractor, and rake around the farm, the scenes on the iPad change as it recognizes each item and acts accordingly—for example, leaving tracks from the cow, and showing different areas of the farm as you drive the tractor through it. Kids can even tap on the virtual haystack to feed the physical cow.
With the Imaginext Apptivity Fortress (above), different games and modes appear depending on which character you're using, including a knight or a troll. Using the iPad's camera, you can battle enemies with your living room as the backdrop. Different games pop up depending on whether the fortress is in vertical or horizontal mode.
Finally, Create & Learn Cases take ABC cards, for example, and bring them to life. Place the A is for Apple card under the case, and when the iPad camera detects it, the Apple comes to life on the screen.
The Barnyard, for ages 1 and a half to 5, will cost $40. The Fortress, ages 3 to 7, will sell for $50; and Create & Learn Cases are $20 each, for ages 3 and older. Look for all to ship this fall.
