My generation was just about the first to grow up with digital/gadget toys: little games for a long vacation drive, home computers and video game systems. Kids today grow up with a mix of regular and digital toys. I still had a lot of old-fashioned toys, like blocks, and stuffed animals. As kids’ toys are getting more gadget-like and digital (I was around before Tamagotchi), what’s catching me off guard is the increasing of hybrids between the two types of toys – the most famous of these being the ubiquitous Webkinz phenomenon.

Often sold (and sold out) in retail stores, you can always buy webkinz online . What you get is an adorable plush animal, but with a tag code that allows the creation of a virtual pet, an online incarnation of the soft toy in your hands. Kids move their virtual pets around the digital world they share with others, buying items for them while decorating their online rooms. And they do. The army of the Webkinz kids is over 4 million strong, and counting. With the online platform adding to the value to the real life animal, there’s always something to keep the kids interested.

Indeed, as time goes by, new Webkinz animals are released, well-received by a frenzied consumer community. As these new animals are added, some are left behind. Some animals are dropped, retired, discontinued – but they never leave the Webkinz community. They become sought after, rare, retired Webkinz.

It’s hard to know what’s going to happen with Webkinz, or kids’ toys in general. You can be sure, though, that there’s a certain edge that digital products offer, that children all over seem to respond well to. My guess is that in the same way stuffed animals have been brought into the virtual world, as portable digital media and toy gadgets become more popular, the digital world will be more a part of the real one.