Fisher-Price fires up iPhone and Facebook app

Toy company says parents already share iPhones and iPod touch devices with their children

Mattel's Fisher-Price, a company that traditionally makes toys for infants and small children, has just released three new apps for the iPhone, all designed for the company's standard 2-5 year old audience.

Just like the real thing, See 'n Say is a virtual spinning toy with an arrow that lands on an animal for the child to identify.
 
Little People Farm features a cartoon farm, designed with specific areas that, when tapped, initiate mini-games or little ditties.

Chatter Telephone is merely a virtual toy telephone.

Priced at $1.99 for the first two and $0.99 for the third, the apps are meant to be ideal distractions when a child's parent is willing to give up his or her phone for a small while.

"iPhone and iPod Touch devices are regularly being passed to kids for entertainment," said Dave Ciganko, Fisher-Price’s vice president of design.

Similarly, Fisher-Price is targeting online moms with a new Facebook app, Moments to Share, that provides a simple interface for cataloging a child's life through photos and videos. Users can use the app to create a timeline of events in the child's life.

Anyone who thought Facebook was just for the young, think again: 35.65 million females with children were unique visitors to Facebook in the U.S. in February, according to comScore. That's about 32% of the site’s U.S. total. We'll see if the app catches on.