A toddler spends most of its waking hours playing. When your baby hits the first year a whole new range of abilities opens to him to explore his surroundings. Toys being a permanent fixture in his daily confines, keeping them safe for play is a crucial element of a childproofed play area. Consider this; the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that in the US alone, an estimated 210,300 toy-related injuries were treated; 35% of which involved children below 5 years of age.

Guidelines for Toy Selection

Even before any toy gets anywhere near your toddler, you can already ensure their safety and appropriateness to your toddler's age through a careful and thoughtful toy selection.

A good starting point would be opting for age-appropriate toys. Look for a "recommended age" sticker on the toy package. This would guide you on which toys can be handled by your child given his control ability and level of maturity.

You must also consider the size of the toy to make sure that the toy or any of its parts could not fit into your child's mouth. Weight is another matter to bear in mind. You don't want your child injured should the toy accidentally fall on him. The toy should also be free from parts that can be easily detached such as buttons or strings or chords that may pose the danger of strangulation.

Tips for Toy Sanitation

The kind and quality of toys are not the only factors that could render them unfit for use or hazardous to your little one. Dirt and harmful bacteria and pollutants that attach to toys could pose danger as well. Let us face it; you can not sanitize your child's environment nor his toys one hundred percent. But you can certainly make sure they are cleaned properly.

One thing to bear in mind is that not all toys are cleaned the same way. The trick is in knowing which toys may be tossed in the dishwasher and which ones should be washed by hand, or spray-cleaned or machine-washed.

Most toddler toys may simply be soaked in warm, soapy water. You may add in a small amount of cleaning agents such as a dish soap or liquid soap or dishwashing detergent to get them cleaned.

Large plastic toys should be regularly washed with soap and rinsed using a hose to carefully remove hard-sticking dirt. Stuff toys on the other hand may be handled by the machine unless you find a tag instruction against doing so. The dishwasher is a good cleaning agent for hard plastic toys. The toys are exposed to the dishwasher's hot temperature which thoroughly sanitizes them.

One may also find sanitizer and disinfecting sprays and use them with caution making sure the toys are wiped properly after spraying. Such products are good to use especially if the toys had been exposed to other children who may have colds and cough that your toddler could easily catch.

Think about this way, the practice of careful toy selection and regular sanitation is comparable to providing your little toddler with healthy and enjoyable friends to play with and as useful as making sure your child gets his required daily dose of vitamins. Like a proper diet which includes an apple or two a day, such practices are sure to help keep the doctor away.