Toy makers and retailers are filling shelves with new tech devices for children ages 3 and up, and sometimes even down. They say they are catering to junior consumers who want to emulate their parents and are not satisfied with fake gadgets.

The "hottest toys" list on Amazon.com includes the Easy Link Internet Launch Pad from Fisher-Price (to help children surf on "preschool-appropriate Web sites") and the Smart Cycle, an exercise bike connected to a video game.

Jim Silver, editor of Toy Wishes magazine and an industry analyst, said there had been "a huge jump in the last 12 months" in toys that involve looking at a screen. "The bigger toy companies don’t even call it the toy business anymore. They’re in the family entertainment business and the leisure business. What they’re saying is, ‘We’re vying for kids’ leisure time."’

Technology has been slowly permeating the toy business for years, but the trend is accelerating. Six out of the nine best-selling toys for 5- to 7-year-olds on Amazon.com were tech gadgets. For all of 2006, three of the top nine toys for that age group were tech-related.

The trend concerns pediatricians and educators, who say excessive screen time dampens the imagination. But more-traditional toys -- ones without computer monitors, USB cables and memory cards -- are seen by many children as obsolete.

"If you give kids an old toy camera, they look at you like you’re crazy," said Reyne Rice, a toy trends specialist for the Toy Industry Association. Children "are role-playing what they see in society," she added.

Toy companies are eager to meet demand with products like the LeapFrog ClickStart My First Computer, which gives children ages 3 and up a keyboard to help them learn computer basics, using a TV screen as a monitor.

Wiring toys for a young audience is worrying some children’s advocates and pediatricians. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against screen time for children ages 2 and younger, and it recommends no more than one to two hours a day of quality programming on televisions or computers for older children.

Dr. Donald L. Shifrin, a pediatrician based in Seattle and the spokesman for the academy, said tech toys cannot replace imaginative play, where children create rich narratives and interact with others. "Are we creating media use as a default for play?" Shifrin asked. "When kids want to play, will they ask, ‘Where’s the screen?’" (NYT)