Sleep
Unsafe Sleep Habits in Children
The frustrating truth about infant sleep safety is that some of the most dangerous practices come in product form, with branding, packaging, and reass...
5 min read
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Showing articles tagged with: #toys
20 articles found
Safety
When to Throw a Toy Away: The Warning Signs Worth Knowing
A toy you bought a year ago as safe is not necessarily safe now. The slow accumulation of wear is how most toy-related injuries happen — a doll's eye...
11 min read
Safety
How to Choose Toys by Age
Choosing toys that match your child's age isn't just about what they'll enjoy—age appropriateness also ensures toys are safe for their developmental s...
8 min read
Safety
Checking Toys for Wear: A Five-Minute Quarterly Audit
The toy box is the part of the house with the slowest, most invisible accumulation of risk. A wooden train that was safe when new isn't safe with a ch...
7 min read
Play
Puzzles and Shape Sorters for Young Children: Developmental Value and Age Guide
Shape sorters and puzzles are one of the few toy categories where the simplest, cheapest versions do as much developmental work as the elaborate ones....
5 min read
Play
Best Toys for Tummy Time by Age
The AAP wants babies on their tummies for at least 30 minutes a day by 3-4 months, broken up across short sessions. Most newborns hate it. The right p...
7 min read
Play
The Difference Between Educational and Simply Fun Toys
The educational toy aisle is one of the most successful marketing inventions of the last 30 years. A $79 plastic learning station and a $9 set of wood...
7 min read
Play
Sustainable Toy Choices for Environmentally Conscious Families
The toy industry produces about 90% plastic toys and tens of millions of tons of plastic waste annually. The honest sustainability move isn't choosing...
7 min read
Play
Safe Construction Toys for Young Children
The construction toy aisle is misleading. Sets sit side-by-side that range from genuinely safe for a one-year-old to genuinely dangerous, and the age...
5 min read
Play
When to Rotate Toys to Keep Play Fresh
Children lose interest in the same toys, leading parents to buy more. Toy rotation is a simple solution: instead of constant purchases, store some toy...
4 min read
Play
Recycled Materials as Play Resources
The most-played-with toy in any house with a 2- to 5-year-old is, statistically, the box the new toy came in. Cardboard, jars, fabric scraps, and tube...
6 min read
Play
How to Refresh the Play Environment Without Buying New Toys
The instinct when a child seems bored with their toys is to buy something new. The research, and the lived experience of every preschool teacher, poin...
6 min read
Play
Why Overly Educational Toys Are Not Always Better
A noisy, multi-coloured, screen-equipped toy aimed at toddlers is almost always less developmentally useful than the £8 set of wooden blocks underneat...
5 min read
Play
Home Theatre Without Specialist Toys
The cardboard box outperforms the toy. Every parent who has watched a toddler abandon the £30 birthday present to play with the wrapping has seen this...
6 min read
Play
How to Make Simple Homemade Toys
The infant toy aisle is mostly a category invented by marketing — bright primary colours, plastic surfaces, and a noise on every press, optimised to l...
7 min read
Play
Donating and Decluttering Toys: A Guide
Toy clutter overwhelms both children and parents. Regular decluttering—removing broken toys, outgrown items, and toys no longer played with—creates sp...
4 min read
Play
How to Create Educational Toys at Home
The word "educational" is one of the most abused in the toy industry. Many products marketed as educational provide minimal developmental value beyond...
2 min read
Play
DIY Toys Made From Everyday Materials
Commercial toy marketing creates the impression that children need specially designed, developmentally targeted products to play effectively. In pract...
2 min read
Play
Creative Play Without Expensive Toys
The toy industry is skilled at making parents feel that the right materials will give their child a developmental advantage. The research evidence doe...
2 min read
Play
Clothespin and Button Games
The best fine-motor toy in your house is probably in a kitchen drawer. A wooden clothespin needs about two pounds of pinch force to open — right at th...
6 min read