Dreaming of a tween Christmas

Girls like 8-year-old Kelsie Templin are a challenge for the toy industry.

Unlike boys in the 8-to-12 age group, who seem easy to please with video games and action toys, Kelsie and her peers are in a fuzzy, in-between stage. Kelsie, for example, likes to collect stuffed animals, but she also enjoys more grown-up activities like shopping at Claire's Stores, creating picture frames for her room and listening to tunes by pop star singers Christine Aguilera and Britney Spears.

"I don't like action figure toys and babyish dolls," said Kelsie, who lives in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

This holiday season, toy makers and retailers are making a big effort to capture the hearts of girls like Kelsie, known in the industry as "tweens."

"Everyone is trying to figure out how they can get her away from Limited Too and Claire's and get her into the toy stores," said Chris Bryne, an independent toy analyst, noting girls' ever-growing interest in clothes.

With the tween in mind, K-B Toys is expanding beyond toys and selling room decor like lava lamps and room beads. Toys "R" Us Inc., whose "R" Zone featuring video games has become a magnet for boys, is trying out a store-within-a-store that has the popular pouty-lipped Bratz dolls at its Times Square location.

Toy makers, meanwhile, have come up with more funky-looking dolls, arts and crafts kits and products such as fur-trimmed CD players and flashy bikes that appeal to tweens.

One strategy for manufacturers is to try to lure tweens back to dolls. The fashion doll market has become particularly competitive, with MGA Entertainment, the maker of Bratz dolls, battling Mattel Inc., which manufactures Barbie.

Mattel is trying to keep girls from giving up their Barbies and defecting to Bratz. Last year, Mattel introduced My Scene Barbie, which has an edgier style than Barbie. This summer, the company unveiled Flavas, hip-hop inspired dolls.

Many of the products aimed at tweens have done well since they arrived in stores over the past few months, analysts said. Hasbro Inc. has had success with Video Now, a portable personal video player, and Thintronics, a new line of phones and radios.

New arts and crafts kits such as Mattel's Ello and Lego's Clikits have also been popular with tweens.