The annual UK toy fair has opened in London, giving manufacturers a chance to showcase some of the latest toys before they hit the stores.

The toy market weathered a 2% fall last year caused by the international financial crisis.

But Natasha Crookes from the British Toy and Hobby Association said the volume of sales actually increased by 7% and by 12% over the Christmas season.

"Sales have gone up in 2008 but the actual value has come down and what that obviously means is that people are getting toys for less money and they're looking for value in those toys. I think that's an important thing that we'll obviously look at and see more of in 2009 but the industry really is making sure that it's coming out with toys with play value and innovation."

The toy industry is worth 4 billion US dollars in the UK.

Fighting the economic downturn is child's play for toy giant, Lego. Despite an overall decline in the industry, the Danish toymaker celebrated a growth of over 50% in 2008.

Taking part in the Toy Fair, Lego unveiled the second generation of Mindstorm models - a toy with robotic microchips built into the Lego bricks. The chips enable users to program a working robot as well as build a model.

The US based company Bossa Nova released its first robot-Prime8. The robot can be angry or happy and acts as a room guard by launching coconuts at intruders.

The four-day long Toy Fair is expected to attract more than 9,000 visitors.