Guidelines for Selecting Toys - Essay Sample

Introduction

In ensuring the safety of a child when playing with their toy, there are some guidelines that parents, guardians, and teachers should adhere to when choosing the toy to give a child. The toy should be made with a material or fabric that is flame resistant. Stuffed toys should be washable to avoid the toy from being dirty (Hassett, Siebert & Wallen, 2008). Painted toys must use paint that is lead-free to avoid the paint from harming the child. Crayons should have an ASTM label on the package to show that it has gone through evaluation and passed. The toys that the children use should not be small enough that a child can swallow it and get choked. The toy should not have detachable parts that can be detached and swallowed.

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Furthermore, marbles and small balls should be avoided as toys because they can be swallowed and result in choking. Toys with batteries should be avoided. However, if these toys with batteries are opted for, the battery cases should have screws to ensure that the batteries are not taken out and ingested (Kushnir, Xu & Wellman, 2010). Toys with sharp ends and pinch points should also be avoided to reduce the risk of injury. Riding toys like toy horses must have safety harnesses to avoid falling and possible injury. Another hazard to look out for is in hand me down toys. They should be checked thoroughly to ensure that they do not have defects that can result in injury or choking. Safety gear should be work when using larger toys like bicycles. Electric toys should also be checked to ensure that they have a UL sticker. This shows that they have met safety standards and can be used by children. Furthermore, guardians should check these electric toys regularly to ensure that the components are functioning as they should (Resnick et al., 1998).

Toys For 6 to 12 Months Children

The first toy that I choose for this age of children is Melissa & Doug Mine to Love Mariana baby doll. This doll is a twelve-inch doll with a romper and hat. The toy is twenty-one dollars and can be found on Amazon. The doll is ideal for bay girls to cuddle and carry with them. The toy does not have any small detachable parts that might cause chocking to the child. The cloth that covers the doll can also be removed and washed to ensure that the toy is always clean

The second toy that I would recommend for this age group is the VTech Sit to Stand Learning Walker. The toy is educative because it inspires the child on how to learn walking. The toy comes with several contrasting colors to help the child be interested in the toy. The toy is large and does not have any detachable parts that can be swallowed. The toy does not have ant paint; hence there is no lead contamination to worry about. The toy can be found on Amazon for thirty-nine dollars.

Another toy that I believe will be ideal for this age group of children is To Be Ready for Life Cloth Book. This is a cloth book that has images of colorful animals that can stimulate the child to want to explore the world. The book is made from a machine washable fabric that ensures it will always be clean. Furthermore, it does not have any paint and loses parts that can harm the child. The toy can be found on Amazon for sixteen dollars.

These toys that I have chosen are developmentally appropriate for children. The walker, for example, helps to motivate a child to learn how to walk. They are also educational. The cloth book teaches the child about the different flora and fauna around them. The doll teaches the child how to care for something other than herself. These toys are also appealing to the children of these ages. Children in these ages are attracted to things with a lot of colors. The cloth book has animals that are different colors and peak into the imagination of the child. The walker is also multicolored to ensure that the child will love it and use it as much as possible. I believe that parents would be willing to select and these toys for their children. This is because of the little danger that they give the children. Furthermore, the toys are relatively cheap. The toys are also educational, and parents love toys that not only entertain the child but also teach them something in the process.

I would select this toy for children in this age group. This is because of the safety that these toys have and the way that they teach the children something that they did not know. These toys are safe for children of all ages as they do not have small parts that can be swallowed and cause choking. Furthermore, they are not painted; hence the risk of lead contamination is nonexistent. However, the walker poses some danger. A child who has not known how to walk properly should not use it as the child can push it forward and lose control of the walker resulting in falling (Yilmaz, 2016).

References

Hassett, J. M., Siebert, E. R., & Wallen, K. (2008). Sex differences in rhesus monkey toy preferences parallel those of children. Hormones and Behavior, 54(3), 359-364. doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.03.008

Kushnir, T., Xu, F., & Wellman, H. M. (2010). Young Children Use Statistical Sampling to Infer the Preferences of Other People. Psychological Science, 21(8), 1134-1140. doi.org/10.1177/0956797610376652

Resnick, M., Martin, F., Berg, R., Borovoy, R., Colella, V., Kramer, K., & Silverman, B. (1998). Digital manipulatives: New toys to think with. In C. M. Karat, A. Lund, J. Coutaz, & J. Karat (Eds.), Proceedings of the CHI '98 conference (pp. 281-287). Los Angeles, CA: Association for Computing Press. Retrieved from http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/papers/chi-98/digital-manip.html

Yilmaz, R. M. (2016). Educational magic toys developed with augmented reality technology for early childhood education. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 240-248. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.040