Image credit : Illustrative Image

Last evening as I was pacing up and down a three-storey toy shop, figuring out a suitable toy for my three-year-old, I was amazed to see the plethora of choices; the advancement of technology and research and the resultant toys, some of which were more alive than you and me. And just like that, I went back in time to remember some of our toys; oh buoy! What we have now in the name of toys are completely out-of-the-world. “You just have to look at the toys to figure out how far we have come in terms of innovation. They all have a context and a reason for being. Some of them will blow your mind,” says Sayantan Das, a Father and a Gizmo freak.

Here are some toys that you can gift your child:

Cubetto: Coding is fast becoming the global language of communication, connecting over 2 billion people across the globe who use the internet. Not only this,coding is now being touted as an invaluable job skill for better career prospects. But there are numerous questions that surround the subject of coding. Therefore, Eupheus learning, an EdTech startup in the Education and Training space, brings Cubetto to India to answer these questions. Cubetto is the first programming toy used by Montessori educators worldwide. It is designed and produced by Primo Toys, an award-winning startup that leverages technology to introduce 21st-century skills like coding, in early years without the use of screens.

Filippo Yacob, CEO, and founder of Primo Toys said: “Cubetto encourages imagination and exploration into the world of programming. It provides gender-neutral play that boosts a child’s creativity, critical thinking, spatial awareness and communication skills. Like us, the Eupheus Learning team is also on a mission to encourage learning in kids through a differentiated approach and technology-driven tools. With their valuable experience in the Pre-K to 12 space, I feel we have just the right partnership we should be having in the Indian subcontinent.”

Barbie: For the longest time, Barbie’s were foreigners to us, Indians. It was difficult to place Barbie in our context with blue eyes and golden hair. “Infact, it was very racist to not adjust, mould a toy according to the regional demand,” says Sudeshna Saha, HR professional. But with Mattel’s sweeping redesign of the iconic doll’s Fashionistas line includes 4 body types, 7 skin tones, 22 eye colors, and 24 hairstyles–it was a doll that spoke to many more people than it used to.

View Master: Mattel turned the View Master into a VR-enabled learning platform and thank god for that, otherwise we would have been still figuring out Google’s Cardboard Virtual Reality viewer.

Loog: has made learning an instrument so much fun. We all know how important it is for our kids to learn an instrument, and often we keep badgering them to learn, while we’re completely clueless about it (how our children will finish our unfulfilled dreams, remember?) Kickstarted and Uruguay Innovation Agency-backed manufacturer of app-enabled, Loog DIY guitars provide for a great parent-kid bonding while assembling it.