Programmable Bricks
The Cricket is a tiny computer, powered by a 9 volt battery, that can control two motors and receive information from two sensors. Crickets are equipped with an infrared communication system that allows them to communicate with each other.
Crickets are small and light enough that they can be carried around in a shirt pocket, collecting data about body activities. Crickets are programmed in a dialect of the Logo programming language (developed for "Lego Mindstorm"), a procedural language that includes constructs like if, repeat, and loop, global and local variables, 8-bit numeric operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, comparison), motor and sensor primitives, timing functions, a tone-playing function, and a random number function.

Lifelong Kindergarten - Digital Manipulatives
Here's the MIT group that has written several papers on educational toys and Digital Manipulatives: "...With our new digital versions of these toys, children can learn concepts (such as process, probability, and emergence) that were previously seen as too complex for children."

Computer-augmented toys
An der Uni Paderborn enstand innerhalb der Mensch-Computer-Interaktions-AG diese informative Semesterarbeit: Der Autor stellt innerhalb dieser Arbeit drei verschiedene Instrumente vor, die Kinder dabei unterstützen sollen wissenschaftliche Inhalte leichter zu erlernen.
The report is manly a translation of a MIT paper Digital Manipulatives, but also gives some interesting views on "interactive Barny".

Jochen Denzingers Links
on smart toys and domestic robots.

Experimental School Environment (ESE)
Twelve i3 projects research the school of the future for the 4-8 year old. One of the projects called Pogo involved the Philips design Lab. It seems to be the most advanced project within ESE.

Kids Design the Future
At the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland we believe that children should have a voice in making new technology for kids. Children's ideas need to be heard throughout the entire technology design process. Therefore, in 1998 we began a unique technology design team. Seven children, ages seven to eleven, join with researchers from computer science, education, art, robotics, and other disciplines, twice a week. Together we have become an intergenerational, interdisciplinary design team. The team pursues projects, writes papers and creates new technologies. Allison Druin is part of the team and has edited several books on new learning technologies.
Jesterbot (Mpeg, 68MB), the latest development within PETS is a "story telling" robot, children can interact with. A partner in this project is Dr. Cori Lathan, the head of the company anthrotronix who provide the same technology for military combat aswell.