Gadgets, not toys, top kids’ Christmas wish list

Damn and blast! I’m writing about Christmas in October. I should be writing about trick-or-treating but instead I’m jumping aboard the iTrain – just like this country’s little nippers.

In this year’s ‘most wanted’ you won’t find very many actual toys. Instead you’ll stumble across a whole bunch of gadgets that you’d perhaps expect to find on your own wish list.

Apple products sparkle at the top of Duracell’s poll of Britain’s five- to 16-year-olds. The iPhone 4, iPod Touch and the iPad take the top three places. What could a five-year-old possibly want with a £400 iPad? Well, I suppose that since even a cat can use it, the smallest of hands could probably get Apple’s tablet to do something.

Of the 2,138 youngsters asked, 39% crave an Apple gadget for their very iChristmas. Thankfully it’s the older kids that want iGadgets more, with 66% of 13- 16-year-olds Apple-ing it up. A not too shabby 50% of nine- to 12-year-olds are Apple-ites, followed by 17% of five- to eight-year-olds.

Motion gaming and video taking

So what else is on the list? Motion sensing gaming looks set to be big hit this Christmas, with Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect camera in fourth place. In at number eight is competitor Sony with their bobble-topped motion-controller, PlayStation Move, suggesting that Microsoft’s controller-less attention-grabber is beating out Move’s more accurate gaming.

At least with these gaming gadgets, the youngsters will be off their bums being active, even if it is in front of the telly. However, there’s no sign of the console that started off the motion revolution – the Nintendo Wii. So either this console is finally coming to a rest, or all the kids have got one already.

And then there’s the video cameras. It looks like today’s ankle biters are well into spying on their parents and posting the evidence on Youtube. So you better watch out for the Flip video camera and the slightly creepy Barbie Video Girl – a Barbie doll that has a camera lens embedded into its chest. No doubt all the Bond girls will be doing it next.

Are kids’ tastes growing up too fast?

With expensive gadgets puncturing this year’s must-haves, our little tikes might be growing up a little too fast. I’d like to think I was all about the LEGO, board games and Scalextric. But the truth is, when I was younger, I was also into my computer and Sega Master System.

I certainly didn’t have a mobile phone, however. The majority of children aged between eight and 12 now do, according to a survey by The Baby Website. Not only that, but they’re also on Facebook, have their own laptop and a personal email account. Surely there’s something wrong with the world when our children want the same ‘toys’ as we do?

So here are this Christmas’s top 10 toys according to Duracell’s report. Which one would you buy for yourself?

1. iPhone 4 (14%)
2. iPod touch (13%)
3. iPad (12%)
4. Kinect for Xbox 360 (6%)
5. Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters (5%)
6. Flip Video Camera (4%)
7. Toy Story 3 Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear (4%)
8. PlayStation Move (4%)
9. LEGO Harry Potter Video Game (3%)
10. Barbie Video Girl (3%)