The power of a connected toy is how it can complement a child's natural play behaviour. It's not about breaking the mould of how children play, it's about the potential of their creativity combined with technology. Toys should be a tool that enable cognitive development through imaginative play. A well designed toy is adaptable, allowing a child's play to branch out from its primary narrative or original purpose. This amplifies learning and growth, and more interest in the toy, meaning fewer one-day wonders discarded at the bottom of the toy chest. This year Tech Crunch reported an increase in investment and Google searches for connected toys.

Whether they are racing cars that "read" the track, robots that teach coding or ground-drones controlled with the swipe of an iPad, these "connected" playthings have been proclaimed as the future of the toy industry. For parents concerned about the amount of time their kids spend in front of a screen, connected toys offer a welcome and reassuring physicality: the toy is the focus, the app merely the control panel. For their children, it means (effectively) getting a pet robot. Which is why brands such as Sphero and Anki are set to dominate 2016 Christmas lists. But the question remains: how much fun are these digitally driven playthings?

Talking toys have come a long way since the original Furby. Now they're connected to the Internet, use speech recognition, and are raising a host of new questions about the online privacy and security of children. Hackers have already targeted toys. Late last year, Hong Kong-based digital toy maker Vtech admitted that cybercriminals accessed the personal information of 6.4 million children. Researchers have also shown how hackers can gain control of connected dolls.