Toys that listen, talk, and play: Understanding Children's Sensemaking and Interactions with AI Toys

arXiv cs.AI / 4/6/2026

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Key Points

The paper examines how generative AI “screen-free” toys shape children’s sensemaking, including how toy interactions can feel like sustained social connections through simulated emotion, personalization, and memory-like recall.
In two participatory design sessions with eight children (ages 6–11) using three different AI toys, children often showed genuine curiosity and treated the toys as social agents.
The study found that interaction breakdowns and mismatches between the toys’ perceived intelligence and their toy-like appearance disrupted children’s expectations and sometimes led to adversarial or conflict-style play.
The authors argue that these dynamics raise concerns about children’s understanding of boundaries, agency, and relationships with AI.
The paper concludes with design implications and “design provocations” aimed at making AI toy interactions more transparent, developmentally appropriate, and responsible.

Abstract

Generative AI (genAI) is increasingly being integrated into children's everyday lives, not only through screens but also through so-called "screen-free" AI toys. These toys can simulate emotions, personalize responses, and recall prior interactions, creating the illusion of an ongoing social connection. Such capabilities raise important questions about how children understand boundaries, agency, and relationships when interacting with AI toys. To investigate this, we conducted two participatory design sessions with eight children ages 6-11 where they engaged with three different AI toys, shifting between play, experimentation, and reflection. Our findings reveal that children approached AI toys with genuine curiosity, profiling them as social beings. However, frequent interaction breakdowns and mismatches between apparent intelligence and toy-like form disrupted expectations around play and led to adversarial play. We conclude with implications and design provocations to navigate children's encounters with AI toys in more transparent, developmentally appropriate, and responsible ways.