Safe Toys this Holiday Season

We buy toys to our children to not only to entertain and bring fun, but also to help them in their development. Toys provide an amazing source of learning and entertainment for kids of all ages. Toys have wonderful ways in fostering creativity and stimulating intellectual developments. But with the many recent recalls of toys, even from those of big toy manufacturers who had been in a market for ages, it is important to choose toys that are age appropriate and safe for your kids.

This holiday season, it is expected to have the influx of toys. As parents, we should be aware of the danger these toys could bring to our children. We have to be aware and selective when it comes to giving toys to our kids. Dangerous designs, toys containing illegal levels of lead, toys that are inappropriate for the age of the child and toys that have strong magnets that can be deadly if swallowed are examples of toys that should be avoided.

Let me give some quick tip on how to select safe toys for your toys this holiday season.

1. Choose toys that are suitable for the child’s age and/or skill level. If you are not sure, ask a salesperson for suggestions of age appropriate toys.

2. It pays to read the labels. Take time to read the labels of the toy you are buying. Check for age appropriateness and safety recommendations. Do not presume that a bright child can safely handle a toy created for a much older child.

3. When buy a riding toy such as a skateboard, bicycle, or roller blades make sure to purchase protective gear as well. Protective gear should include helmet, elbow pads and knee pads. Be sure that the protective gear fits the child perfectly before allowing the child to ride the toy.

4. For young kids who seem to put everything in their mouths, choose large toys to avoid choking hazards.

5. Look for durable and well made toys. Avoid toys made of brittle plastic that can break and leave hazardous points or edges.

6. If possible avoid buying toys with projectiles such as rockets or darts. Improper use can cause serious eye injury.

7. Avoid buying toys with magnets for children under age of 6. Magnets are hazardous, when swallowed it can cause serious internal injuries and may require surgery to remove.

8. Buy toys that meet the safety standards set forth in CSMC’s ASTM F963. The ASTM-F963 is a standard that covers the requirements and contains test methods for toys intended to use by children under 14 years old.

9. Research the companies you are buying from to determine their safety history and their reputation for addressing and eliminating problems and concerns.

With these tips you can buy toys for your children this Christmas season and be assured of their safety and quality. Bear in mind that the safety of our children is a mutual cooperation between the toy manufacturer and consumers. As for Latoystore.com we do all we can to ensure that your children can reap all the benefits a quality toy have to offer without being in harmful.

How to Select Safe Holiday Toys is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

Educational Wooden Toys

Child’s play should be fun and educational. There are different types of toys suited for your child’s age. Use age recommendations as a guide or something to challenge your child appropriately. It should be not too hard or too easy. Development milestones can help you discern your child’s learning stage. Hera are some guidelines to get you started. Many of these can actually be useful at various stages, and in different ways.

Birth to 9 Months

• Give your baby toys that engage sense such as mobiles, rocking toys, chew toys, chunky boards and cloth books.
• Use toys that stimulate cause and effect like pop-up toys and busy boxes

9 to 18 Months

• Give role play toys that imitate real life like tool set, cook and kitchen toy set, animal farms etc
• Toys that demonstrate how things that fit together like puzzles, blocks, and shape sorters
• Toys that encourage motor skills such as pull and push toys, and balls

18 to 36 Months

• Toys that encourage the child to create like modeling clay, crayons, and finger paints
• Toys that improve the use of imagination such as dress-up clothes, action and animals figures, dolls and doll houses, stuffed animals

It is the great desire of every parent to provide the best opportunities for their children. The idea of providing your child with educational toys is typically borne with noblest aspiration. Just remember that it is the parent’s job to judge wisely about how an object can best stimulate his child’s learning and development. Remember that ultimately, it is not the toy itself that makes your child smarter. It is how you encourage him to use his mind and body to solve the problems and develop his own ideas.

How To Choose Right Toy For Your Kids is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

Make your child identify colors, learn counting, and experience creativity. We provide beads sequencing set in bright colors, light weight, and completely non-toxic. All toys at latoystore.com are approved by the third party to be completely safe for children. Children with autism will also find the beads sequencing set a wonderful toy to play with as it provide all opportunities to improve the fine motor skills, hand and eye coordination and improve the creativity skills of a child. There are number of other bead toys available including mini beads rack bear, mini beads rack apple tree, mini beads rack snow man, mini beads rack giraffe, and mini beads rack pig. Parents will find the bead toys wonderful toys for improving the observation skills of their children. Mini beads rack apple tree is a wonderful fantastic maze game available in smooth bright colors. These bead toys are loaded with various characters and animal models like cow, pig, and giraffe. These animals and characters will provide excellent sensory stimulus and feeling of company to children along with learning names and shapes of these models and characters.

Beads of Learning and Fun Packed in Growth Chain of a Child is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

Worktable toy is an advanced version with lot more options for children to play with. There are number of tools available and children are found highly engaged while playing with worktable. The exciting bright color, magic touch and wonderful design of worktable are highly appealing to all children. This toy is also very famous among children with disabilities including autistic children. Worktable is ideal for children over three years of age. Worktable improves the motors skills and also enhances the imagination of the children. Children who face difficulty in focusing and involving with other simple toys will found to be highly engaged with this worktable loaded with plenty of options to work with. The tools are handy and safe for children even if they are playing in groups. This toy is highly recommended for all children showing deep interest in assembling, and dissembling the toys. The interaction with hammer, wrench and screw driver and using these at right places make these children to learn fast and effectively. Other more advanced toy available at LA Toy Store is Small Work Bench. This toy is state-of-the-art toy crafted with extra magic and skill. Shaped like a chair in a wonderful exciting bright colors and loaded with number of tools to make the whole playing experience a enormously involving and full of fun and learning. This toy is suitable for children over 3 years of age and parents will found it very useful for learning and development of children.

Educational toys: An excellent tool of learning is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

Depression, ADHD syndrome, anxiety and bipolar disorder are commonly seen in children. In one study it was found that one in four children is brought by parents to pediatric emergency for some kind of pediatric mental problem. These children do not fall into criteria of being diagnosed as having some mental illness but surely such problems can lay foundation for serious mental disorders in adulthood. In one study about 25% children were found to be having some symptoms of depression, conduct disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety.

Children in the process of growing will go through emotional and behavioral problems which are usually in response to stresses of development and environment. Fortunately, these problems are often transient and in only few children such problems can persist for long even to adulthood. With proper medical care, involvement and support of family many mental problems in children can be manage successfully.

Most common behavioral problems include aggression, inattention, hyperactivity, and non-compliance. Some children may show severe signs of depression and anxiety. Children with mental problems may have difficulty in learning, verbal communication, cognitive functions, and reading problems. Some children show unusual hyperactivity which sometimes is very difficult to control in these children.

Pediatric physical problems are also very diverse from asthma to bed soiling. Children being at developing stage do not have strong immune system to protect them against number of pathogens thus exposed to various infections affecting different systems. Children may also have food allergies and should be taken to pediatrician for proper diagnosis and removal of culprit food from the diet of the child. There are number of diseases that can be found in children and some of these may be serious in nature.

Proper care of children at home and attention given by parents can help in preventing most of pediatric mental and physical problems. The incidence of these problems directly correlates with the level of care provided by the parents at home.

- LA Toy Store

Pediatric mental and physical problems is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

Toys are integral part

Do we need expensive toys for our children? The thing is price is criteria reside only in the minds of parents not children. They like what they like even if they do not have good reason behind that. Children do not pick toys regarding their price but they have their own choices of which little are known yet. Today children might be somewhat different due to evolutionary process but as far as their choice of toys is concerned they behave similarly as child of way back thousand year era.

So what type of toys is best for your child is matter of child’s own preference, therefore, parents should choose toys which they think would help their child’ learn and also enjoy interacting with it. Wooden toys are best to start with as these toys have special touch and feeling that children love to have. Also safety is the prime concern and wooden toys are safest of all if selected appropriately. These are free of lead added paints if size selected according to age would not choke the children if taken into mouth. Look for sharp edges of the toy which might hurt the child while play with it. Avoid plastic toys that could be broken into pieces and taken up into mouth of a child. Also avoid toys with long strings which might strangulate a child if left unattended while playing.

Toys that let children use these in many different ways prove to be excellent learning toys. Wooden toys have this feature and children can assemble, dissemble, and connect various pieces of wooden toys and thus provide them lot of learning options. Another important aspect that needs to be developed in children is a habit of sharing. Electronic games do not create this sense of sharing among children and child may insist to keep the joystick of a video game. Wooden toys create this sense of sharing among children as these do not create sense of possessiveness usually created by electronic toys.

Selecting right toy for your child is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

Children are particularly at risk to any poisoning including lead because of their immature defense system and organs particular important for detoxification like liver. Children if exposed to high levels of lead either through acute ingestion or by chronic exposure like toys containing lead may have spectrum of ill health effects like behavioral problems, cognitive and learning difficulties, and physical disabilities. The toxic dose for children proposed by CDC is about 10 ug/dl, however, the effects of lead below the level of 10 ug/dl is not fully understood but many researchers have proposed that it is equally dangerous to children. The most dangerous aspect of lead poisoning in children is that once lead enters into the their body, it may take even years to get out of the body and thus pose great threats to child’s health during this period. Children of all ages are equally susceptible to deleterious effects of lead poisoning. Though various products high levels of lead like paint have been made to minimize or eliminate the lead content, lead is still being shown in various other products including toys. Toys being imported from China has shown to contain lead are commonly bought in U.S. for children. Though we have not seen mass epidemic or some set of symptoms, but absence of symptoms in these children does not eliminate the over risk of toxicity because hidden symptoms could be as lethal as visible ones. Medical community is still figuring out the possible tests or protocols to find out the ways for diagnosis of lead toxicity if lead content in body is at low levels. Should we negate the problem because we do not see it or we as parents should do something about it and ask the relevant governmental agencies and concerned departments including healthcare regulating bodies to do something about it? Of course not every toys imported from China contains lead but it is important to filter those manufactures producing lead contaminated toys is important so that we can have safe toys for our children to play with.

Lead Poisoning: A Threat to Children’s Health is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

There is no prevention for this problem and symptoms of Down’s syndrome are quite variable from one child to other. Some children are so badly affected that they need continuous medical attention while some may be able to have good healthy life. The children with Down’s syndrome have many physical impairments like low muscle tone, problems in sitting or walking, poor growth rate with age, delayed speech and lack of self care. Also children with Down’s syndrome have mild to moderate intellectual problems, limited communication, problems with social interactions, and low working skills. However, children with Down’s syndrome can learn and can develop skills if properly taken care of and provided with opportunities.

The good news is that these special kids with Down’s syndrome can improve in every aspect if we can provide them all the opportunities to grow. Children with Down’s syndrome love to play with toys. Their choices may be different but in fact they like to have toys and interaction is obvious. Due to their special physical and sensory needs, proper selection of toys is utmost important. Wooden toys are the best of best we can offer to these children. Wooden toys are non-toxic, natural, and above all fun to play with. These toys do not make these children surprised and confused by changing light colors, noises and movements as done by battery operated toys. Wooden toys can harmonize with child’s sensory capabilities and can be life long asset to these children. When we think of wooden toys these are not only blocks but all sort of advanced well crafted toys that will enhance child’s learning capabilities over time. Children with Down’s syndrome should be provided with all sort of wooden toys available from early developmental toys, learning toys, educational toys, and therapeutic toys.

Basic Developmental toys can be replaced with advanced one as the child’s mental capabilities are improved over time. Learning toys are good tools to give child with Down’s syndrome an opportunity to interact with these toys and learn things naturally. Some educational toys are specially crafted for such children keeping in mind the special requirements of these children. You can look into various options and should select the one that fits with the mental growth of your child. Last but not the least the Montessori toys which are specially crafted and designed keeping the needs of these special children. Montessori toys can be of great help in early learning of children with Down’s syndrome.

Montessori Toys and Down’s Syndrome is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

Children with autism also have problems in playing with toys and other children. They show little response to social stimuli, rarely smile, and also don’t like interaction with others especially strangers. But they do show attachment behavior to their primary caretakers. The autistic children also show aggressive and destructive behavior in response to various stimuli.
Selection of autistic children can be a daunting task because improper selection of toy for autistic child can turn into untoward results and may cause more harm than good. Those toys should be selected which integrate with the autistic child’s senses and do not provoke him by any means. Selection of battery operated toys can over stimulate the autistic child by their blinking lights and noises to which these children are very sensitive sometime.  In such cases wooden toys are the best option for autistic children. Wooden toys provide peace, harmony, and do not create over stimulation by any means. Wooden toys can also integrate very well with the senses of autistic children and provide them ample time to get use to these wooden toys.  Wooden toys provide natural touch and feeling while autistic children are introduced with these toys. Wooden blocks would be the best choice in selecting first toy for your autistic child. Blocks carry the charisma that would hold the autistic child’s attention for longer period of time. Choose wooden toys are that are multicolor and finely crafted to get the attention of your child. You can also go for those wooden toys which autistic child will use to construct something. For such purpose wooden building blocks can be very handy.

Wooden toys are available for various purposes including educational toys, learning toys, therapeutic toys, and developmental toys. You can select out of these any which suit your child’s mental growth. For example, some autistic children will love to work with developmental toys if they are progressing with the optimum growth and later can handle other advanced learning toys or educational toys. Therapeutic toys are specially designed keeping in mind the needs of these special children. Other type of wooden toys called Montessori toys are extremely beneficial for autistic children as these toys are crafted keeping the Montessori’s school of thought which is extremely helpful in dealing with children with autism or other such problems. These toys work on successful and well researched methodologies and can be very handy in autistic children.

The Right Toys for Autistic Children is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog

The other most important feature of wooden toys is that out of wood you can make toys which can be specifically purpose oriented like educational toys, therapeutic toys, learning toys for kids, and learning toys for toddlers. Great variety of Montessori wooden toys are also available following the Montessori school of thought. Educational toys made of wood does wonders in education process of a child. Simple blocks offer fun and refinement of motor and creative skill in a child. Different shapes made out of word appeal most children. Building blocks are the favorite learning toys for toddlers. Learning toys also present two benefits: play and learn. Learning toys come in different shapes, sizes and colors. Wooden learning toys are almost always the first choice of children. Developmental toys play significant role in early development of a child. Developmental toys should be of different shapes and in attractive colors and appealing to child. Similarly variety of Montessori toys made out of wood are available which foster creativity in children. No matter how many new hi-tech toys continue to hit market, wooden toys are there to stay for simple reasons mostly children aware of.

Wooden Toys Features is a post from: LA Toy Store's Blog