As the holiday season approaches, it is important to select eye-safe and age appropriate toys for all the good little boys and girls on your list. In general in is important to avoid toys with sharp, pointed ends, rough edges or pieces. Blocks are a great gift for almost any age as long as their corners and edges are blunted to reduce the risk of eye injury. Also, to avoid eye injuries, beware of long-handled toys, such as mops, brooms, stick horses, and gardening toys like rakes and hoes. If you do buy a long-handled toy, check to make sure that these have rounded handles and watch children under 2 closely with such toys.
Avoid BB guns, slingshots, dart guns and arrows for children under 6. Ideally, these toys should be avoided completely, especially when there are younger children in the house. If that is not possible, supervise any child with these toys, because have the potential to be harmful. While BB’s and the darts from a dart gun may not break the skin, they are small enough to penetrate the eye and can cause blindness.
Be careful to avoid toys that may be age appropriate for an older child but could be dangerous for a younger sibling. Always supervise children in situations when they might share an inappropriate toy with a younger child.
Great toys for children under age 2 that stimulate visual development improve hand-eye coordination and demonstrate spatial relationships include:
*brightly colored mobiles
*stuffed animals
*activity gyms
*blocks, balls
*stacking and nesting toys
*buckets and measuring cups
*puzzles
*shape sorters
*musical toys
Appropriate and eye-friendly toys for children over age 2 include:
*child-sized household items like brooms
*vacuums
*rakes
*lawn mowers
*refrigerator and stove sets and outside toys like sandboxes
*riding toys and backyard gyms and swings
Some toys may simply be found to be unsafe and be recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). For a list of toy recalls, call (800) 638-2772 or visit www.cpsc.gov.
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