Kids' toys spawn 'apptivities'

Kids (and toy makers) have often turned household items into favorite playthings. Say, connecting tin cans and string to make a primitive phone. Or poking plastic body parts into a vegetable or piece of fruit -- how the enduring Mr. Potato Head was born 60 years ago.

Today, the apple of kids' eyes is often Mom and Dad's smartphones and tablets. So the imagineers of toy land are unleashing a mess of playthings that exploit mobile gadgets' power to deliver the "wow" factor. Most hitting stores shelves in the summer or fall, this new breed of apptified toys will link first with Apple's gizmos. Android-phone/tablet versions are "in the works."

Ready to let your kid steer miniature racing cars over the screen of your precious iPad? The folks at Mattel assure its safety with the scratch-proof undersides of the new 2.0 Hot Wheels Apptivity vehicles. To get started, you'll download the free Hot Wheels app from the iTunes store. Then place a 2.0-grade Hot Wheels vehicle on the screen and race over a magically animated track. A pair of the vehicles will go for $20. Other tablet-based Apptivities built around popular characters are coming, too.

Rather have your kid race a vehicle around (or outside) the house using an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad as the car's remote control? Hold on for the Hot Wheels RC iNitro Speeders, using a radio-frequency control module that plugs into the headphone jack of said iGadget.

Silverlit is tooling up even more sophisticated remote-control helicopter and racing cars that use the Bluetooth and gyroscope built into the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. No plug-ins required.

With Interactive Toy Concepts' Wi-Spi Helicopter and Wi-Spi Intruder car, vehicles aren't just controlled by your smartphone or tablet. Both have a built-in camera beaming live video to your mission-controlling device for tracking, recording and uploading to friends.

Fisher-Price will offer a Laugh & Learn Apptivity Monkey ($30) that comes alive with entertaining, educational sounds after you've stuffed an iPhone or iPod Touch inside.

Finishing a 1,000-piece puzzle is usually its own reward. But the good folks at Ravensburger will soon put icing on the cake with "augmented reality" enhancements for four new puzzles, $20 each.

With a companion app loaded on your camera-equipped Apple device, just point the lens at the finished project. With Ravensburger's "Above the Roofs of Paris" puzzle, you'll now be able to zoom in on pictured objects -- say, the Eiffel Tower -- for better views and information. Or spin your device around for a 360-degree view of the city.

Jack's magic beans have nothing on the collectible trading cards from Silicon Valley start-up Nukotoys, coming soon for $2 in packs of three.

Just tap one Nuko card against the screen of an iPad (loaded with a free app), and magic starts to happen. With Animal Planet Nuko, the cards bring to life exotic creatures you can learn about, populate into a herd (with repeated taps), lead to water, engage in socializing and (nonbloody) survival-of-the-fittest challenges. Or slap the iPad screen with Monsterology Nuko cards, assembling monsters and myths from one of the bestselling "Ology" books.