How to choose a toy for the baby: what to please your child

The baby develops and learns the world with toys. Playing daughters-mothers or cars, children imitate the behavior of adults, and assembling a construction set and jigsaw puzzles improves fine motor skills and imagination. But choosing a good toy is not easy at all.
The market is overflowing with low-quality products, which at best quickly break down, and at worst negatively affect the health and psyche of the child. Therefore, when choosing children’s toys, you need to consider a lot of parameters: smell, quality of seams, material, age restrictions, themes, etc. Today we’ll tell you how to do it.

How to find a quality toy for your baby: the parameters of choice

Material and safety

Some toys are made from low-quality materials and covered with cheap toxic dyes. As a result, they cause an allergic reaction (rash, cough, tearfulness, fever, runny nose, etc.).) or even poisoning in your baby. To avoid this, you should buy toys from specialized stores and proven manufacturers (e.g. Lego, Fisher Price, Tiny Love, Smoby, Eichhorn or Znatok). So you can be sure that the toys have received the necessary certificates of quality and are not a threat to the health of the child.

Important to remember:

1. For small children (0-3 years) it is not recommended to choose soft toys – they quickly get dirty, collect dust and can cause allergies. In addition, according to GOST, such products are not allowed to use natural fur and leather. It is also important that the toy has no long nap, which can easily be torn out, as well as small parts that can be ripped off and swallowed by children.
2. Wooden toys must be made of well-treated wood, without burrs and worm holes. Painted items should be coated with a colorless varnish.
3. Glass is not allowed in toys for children under the age of three. In products for older children, this material can be used only when it is necessary for the functioning of the model.
4. For children under three years should not choose toys made of paper, fluffy rubber (such as latex), porcelain or cardboard.
5. Parts for prefabricated toys (e.g. pyramids and building blocks) intended for 0-3 year olds must not be less than 3.2 cm.
6. Rattles for babies under the age of three should not weigh more than 100 grams.
7. No lasers are allowed in toys. Laser radiation can damage the retina and impair the child’s vision.

Details

Details on the toy (spouts, eyes, etc.).) must be firmly attached to the product. This is to prevent the baby’s teeth from catching them, ripping them off and swallowing them. It is also important that the paws, ears and other body parts in soft stuffed toys can not be torn off – otherwise the child may eat the filler.

Sound

Check the sound the toy makes before you buy it. It should not “cut” the hearing or scare your baby.

Smell

If the product has a pungent chemical odor, refuse to purchase. It most likely contains toxic substances (formaldehyde, methanol, toluene, etc.).p.).

Labeling

When buying, pay attention to whether there are instructions for use, warning labels and age restrictions on the toy packaging or an insert. They should state:

1. At what age the product can be used;
2. Shelf life;
3. Rules of storage and care (if necessary);
4. Country of origin;
5. The trademark (if the manufacturer has registered it;)
6. Precautions (if necessary) and rules for use.
7. Warning labels. For example, it is indicated on the toy that it may only be used in the presence of adults or only from a certain age;
8. Date of manufacture.
9. Remember, products of dubious quality do not have this marking.

Form

It is important that all protruding parts of the toy have “protection” made of rubber, plastic, etc.p. For example, the tips for arrows, bullets and other projectiles must have protective suction cups or rubber caps, and their diameter must be 2 cm or more. Also, no sharp ends, corners, or edges are allowed, which could injure a child. The edges of the metal parts that a child has access to should have a special plastic coating, or be curved or spiral wound.

Choose toys for children according to their age

Toys for Kids 0-1 Year Old

For the first few months of life, your baby should buy suspended toys (giraffes, tiger cubs and other animals). With their help, the baby will learn to distinguish shapes and colors, focus on objects, develop hearing, tactile reflexes and fine motor skills. Rattles and rattles-ringers can be bought from four months of age, and toys that make sounds are a great option from five months of age.

At this age, it is not recommended to buy soft toys, which will accumulate dust and dirt, and metal (heavy) products.

At 6-7 months the baby will enjoy playing with rubber squeakers, pyramids, cubes and musical toys, and at 8-9 months will be especially interested in boxes-toys into which you must insert objects of a particular shape.

In the future, the baby can choose toys on wheels, which can be pushed, balls, which he will roll on the floor and other developmental models.

Toys for children 1-3 years

At this age, the child can buy play developmental mats, which facilitate the development of movement coordination, motor skills, dexterity and fine motor skills. As well as toy rollers-tolokars, which help develop muscles and form walking skills. Musical boxes, pyramid sorters, dolls, collapsible toys and cars would be a good option.

Toys for children 3-5 years old

Babies over the age of three enjoy playing with stuffed animals and doing “adult” things – playing with toy household items (pots, pans), treating their toy friends with the help of a “doctor set” and “saving the world. They also assemble building blocks, draw and color pictures, and model with clay and dough.

Toys for children over 5 years

Around the age of five, children begin to prepare for school. So they should choose books, realistic toys, puzzles, board games, exploration sets, puzzles, radio controlled toys, etc.p.

What else to pay attention to before buying

1. When buying pay attention to the appearance of the product. Psychologists report that scary toys can have a negative impact on the psyche of children, causing aggression and fear. In particular, this applies to kids 2-5 years old. Emotions and impressions received by a baby at this age have a strong influence on its development. It is at this age that he learns about the world and builds his behavior on the basis of what he sees and hears. But what happens to him if he plays with ugly monsters or mutants?
2. Unfortunately, the appearance of toys is not regulated in any way, and how they look depends only on the imagination of designers and engineers. So do not rely on the good faith of manufacturers – even well-known firms there are products that may adversely affect the child’s psyche. Rely only on your opinion and choose beautiful and kind toys, which will be a source of joy for your baby.
3. Remember that “load” the child with toys can not. If the kid has too many toy “friends”, the less value they have in his eyes. In addition, with such an abundance suffers concentration of the child.
4. With a limited number of toys it is easier to get your baby interested in reading, drawing and modeling, and to teach him to take care of his belongings and be neat.

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In the following article, our experts will tell you how to choose the right railroad for your baby.