Our house seems to be filling up with a growing number of toys that talk to our children, from the Furby Boom to Talking Tom. But what if those toys could talk our words?

That’s the idea being touted by a company called Toymail, although it’s supplying its own toys for the purpose rather than using the likes of Furby and Tom.

The company raised more than $83,000 on crowdfunding website Kickstarter earlier this month to fuel its plans to sell ‘Mailman’ toys directly from its own site. Five are currently available – Snort, Milksop, Fairfax, Rochester and Buck – costing $59 each.

The idea: you (or anyone with the Toymail app that’s connected to your kids, from cousins to grandparents) record a voice message using the iPhone app, then press the ‘send’ button to have it spoken out by the Mailman, which connects to your home internet via Wi-Fi. Kids can then answer back, and you’ll be able to listen to their responses on your iPhone.

“It’s called Toymail. It’s like voicemail or email but way more fun because your messages are sent to toys to speak back,” explained the company on its Kickstarter page. “Whether you’re a mom at work, a dad in the checkout line, a friend down the street, or a grandma an ocean away, you can stay connected to the kids you love.”

The toys also have something called the ‘Daily Toymailer’ – a daily song, fact or quote sent to the Mailman toy by Toymail itself. We noticed the app go live on the App Store this weekend, just in time for early buyers of the toys.

Toymail is a free download for iPhone from Apple’s App Store, although it uses a virtual ‘stamps’ system for the messages. You get 10 free every month, and if you want to send more, it costs £0.69 for a virtual book of 50 – note, this is all under the parent’s control.