The iPad for babies: £85 chewable tablet 'helps one-year-olds develop' 

• InnoTab 2 Baby can download apps, and comes in a case to protect it from being dropped (and chewed)
  
• Comes with eBooks and music preloaded
• Revealed alongside dozens of must-have toys at the 2013 Toy Fair
  

By Sean Poulter, Consumer Affairs Editor

Published: 11:23 EDT, 22 January 2013 | Updated: 15:47 EDT, 22 January 2013

Most babies of 12 months of age cannot walk, while their vocabulary might just about stretch to a few goos and perhaps the odd ‘Mum’.

However, a new hi-tech tablet for babies will go on sale at a price of £84.99 in time for Christmas.

The InnoTab 2 Baby – effectively an iPad for babies – was launched today at the 2013 Toy Fair, a showcase for what manufacturers hope will be the big sellers of the year.

Mily La, 2, tries out the £84.99 InnoTab 2, with the help of Charlotte Johnson. The tablet is aimed at babies and children from 1 year to 4 years

The InnoTab 2 has a library of apps that can downloaded

Using the touchscreen, babies will, in theory, be able to navigate their way around educational games identifying colours or animals, complete with sound.

It comes in a hard rubberised case that protects it from being chewed or dropped, while there is music to soothe and eBooks to flick through with parents.

Just as with an iPad there will be a library of apps to download that, in theory, will allow the baby to use it as they develop until the age of nine, when, no doubt, they will be screaming for a real iPad.

The Innotab 2 Baby is made by toy tech company Vtech, which claims it has spotted a gap in the market in terms of providing a tablet for youngsters under three.

The device will appear to the ‘Tiger Mothers’ who are set on raising the next generation of brain surgeons, nuclear physicists, City bankers and concert pianists.

The firm describes the tablet as a ‘must have gadget’ and boasts: ‘Parents no longer need to be worried about their child with a tablet.

‘Innotab 2 Baby features a baby proof design and tailored apps and content.’

The innovation provides telling evidence as to how technology and tablets are replacing old fashioned toys, whether it is rocking horses and Teddy bears or Barbie and Action Man.

Sales of traditional toys that involve handling, building or the imagination fell by 1per cent last year as youngsters switched to screens.

Traditionalists will rue the change in culture, for many technology based games involve solitary play, rather than groups, and leave little room for imagination.

VTech's Charlotte Johnson with the InnoTab 2, which is aimed at babies and children from 1 year to 4 years old

Vtech’s Charlotte Johnson said: ‘It has a special casing that means that you can leave it alone with a child and they can chew it and they won’t damage it at all.

‘It is pre-loaded with 12 musical melodies that will soothe a child.

'It also has a cartridge that teaches the recognition of animals, such as an elephant and explain what it is and what noise it makes.

‘It is educational as well as designed to entertain and soothe.

The baby can use it on their own or with the parent. A 12 month old can use the touchscreen.’

Mily La, 2, tries out the InnoTab 2. It has a special case designed to withstand being dropped

One of the games sees the screen showered with golden stars which disappear one by one as they are touched with tiny fingers.

The tablet also has a built in video camera to allow parents to capture their baby at play.

Miss Johnson said it was far better than simply putting a child in front of a TV screen because it has interactive elements, while it can be used by a parent and child.

Ella Moore, 8, with the most expensive toy at the fair, H Grossman's animatronix dinosaur, RRP £9,000, and the T-Rex behind RRP £8,000

Joe Quest,11, poses in the Horrible Histories board at the fair, made to promote the £16 board game that accompanies the popular TV show

‘A parent and child can work together to learn words, colours and shapes,’ she said.

‘We have had feedback from parents that there was a gap in the market for a product like this that is specifically designed for children aged one to three.

We are living in a world of technology and everyone is using the iPad and it is nice to encourage children to learn in this way.

A Sponge Bob Square Pants character is helped up a flight of stairs during the 2013 London Toy Fair

‘We are not saying this is a replacement for a book, but it is nice that when you have an eBook to see visuals that go with it and can be explored.’

However, Anna Vallone, of Superstitchers, which is a craft based product for young children, suggested many parents would be alarmed at the idea of a tablet for a baby.

‘I think it is crazy. At 12 months most babies can hardly walk,’ she said.

Traditional toys and play habits have been proven for generations of children to be effective in developing skills, imagination and concentration.’

Joe Quest,11, with one of the props from the £16 Horrible Histories battle game

Miss Vallone, based in Sussex, a textile design teacher who encourages children to learn to sew from the age of five, said: ‘Simple things like pinning, splitting thread in half, successfully threading a needle or tying a knot are all really useful skills for children to learn.

‘Sewing is such an important skill, once learned it is never forgotten.

'Fingers become more dextrous, fine motor skills are developed, hand to eye co-ordination  improves as does concentration.’