How To Buy Safe Toys For Your Kids?

Your kids are lucky since you are always buying their favourite toys! However, do you know whether those toys are safe for them or not? This is very important because dangerous toys can result in serious injuries! Fortunately, we’ve found some expert tips to help you buy safe toys for your kids! Read on to know more!

Preventing injuries from toys

Most of the injuries caused by toys are minor cuts, scrapes, and bruises. However, due to lack of supervision, some toys can cause serious injuries or even death! Thus, you should be careful when choosing toys for your kids to prevent any mishap!

Toy buying tips

Here are tips to help you choose safe and appropriate toys for your child:

Infants and toddlers under 3 years of age

• Children under 3 tend to put everything in their mouths. Hence, you must avoid buying toys that have small parts since these can present choking hazards. If you’re not sure, you can use a choke test cylinder, which is 1 1/4 inches wide by 2 1/4 inches long and simulates the size and shape of a young child’s throat.

• Never let your children under the age of 8 years play with uninflated or broken balloons because of the danger of choking

• Avoid marbles, balls, and games with a diameter of 1.75 inches or less.

• Avoid toys with small magnetic pieces, or loose magnets, as they can be easily swallowed. Unfortunately, if two magnets connect together after they are swallowed, they can cause a serious intestinal blockage.

• Children at this age pull, prod and twist toys. Look for toys that are well-made with tightly secured parts.

Preschoolers of ages 3 to 5

• Avoid toys that have sharp edges.

• Avoid toys that are constructed with thin, brittle plastic that might easily break into small pieces or leave jagged edges.

• Look for drawing materials, including crayons and paint sets, marked with the designation code “ASTM D-4236.” This means that a toxicologist has reviewed the product and is labelled with cautionary information.

• You should continue to avoid toys with magnets for this age group.

School Kids ages 6 to 12

• Teach older children to keep their toys away from their younger brothers and sisters.

• If buying a toy gun, be sure the barrel or the entire gun is brightly coloured so that it’s not mistaken for a real gun.

Other Toy Safety Tips

In addition to buying safe toys, it is important to:

• Check toys regularly for small parts, breakage and potential hazards, including chipped or peeling paint. You should either throw away or repair damaged toys.

• Search for toy recalls. These are articles from toy manufacturers requesting a return of their products due to safety concerns. If you’ve purchased a toy that is being recalled, be sure to act promptly.

• Encourage your kids not to put their toys in their mouths.

• When you buy a bicycle, scooter, skates, or other sporting articles, you should also buy a helmet and appropriate safety pads. Ensure that your kids wear protective equipment appropriately!.

• Teach them to put toys away when they finish playing, so they don’t trip over or fall on them.

• Report injuries, complaints, and unsafe toys to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

• Only let adults use battery chargers.

Hearing loss and loud toys

You may not believe it, but there are toys that can produce noise at a level that could seriously affect your kid’s hearing! Some examples of these toys are cap guns, musical toys, toy phones, horns, sirens, and even squeaky rubber toys. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, sounds at the level of 120 dB are painful to your kids’ ears and can result in permanent hearing loss. I also simply prevent small kids from putting their noisy toys close to their ears to listen!

Video game ratings

In addition to following age recommendations on toys, you should observe the ratings on any video games that your child wants. Remember that games rated T, which stands for teen, have content that is unsuitable for children under the age of 13. Therefore, it is better to choose games that are rated either EC, which stands for Early Childhood, or E, which stands for Everyone! This is crucial to avoid exposure to violence!

Keeping toys safe at home

The best way to protect your child after buying him a safe toy is to supervise his play. You should also inculcate good habits such as:

• Teach your kids to put their toys away.

• Checking toys regularly to make sure that they aren’t broken or unusable:

1. 1. Wooden toys shouldn’t have splinters.

   2. Bikes and outdoor toys shouldn’t have rust.

   3. Stuffed toys shouldn’t have broken seams or exposed removable parts.

• Throwing away broken toys or repairing them right away.

• Storing outdoor toys when they’re not in use so that they are not exposed to rain or snow.

• Cleaning the toys regularly

Dangerous objects

You should keep your kids away from objects that can tempt them to play! Some examples are:

• fireworks,

• matches,

• sharp scissors, and cutters.

Finally, I wish you the best of luck in buying your kids their favourite toys, but please remember that they should be safe and appropriate for their age! So, please be careful and choose wisely! Only then can you relax and play peacefully with your lovely small ones! I am off to check out for any toy recalls on the internet! Please do not forget to share your comments below!