Toy Thursday - Non-toxic toys

Instead of talking about one toy this week I want to bring up the subject of what is a non-toxic toy. In another post I will look at what makes a toy green; so this post is strictly about chemicals and toxins.

Everyday we make purchases and decisions on behalf of our little ones from what clothing will they wear; to what will they eat; to what will they play with; and everything else they do. Our children are our responsibility and it's up to us to ensure they are safe.

You would think that if a toy has been approved for sale in Canada that it is safe for play; think again everyday toys are recalled. The recalls catch the toys that don't meet the governments standards but are the standards high enough?

Let's look at various toxins that can be found in toys: (because Christophe keeps me extra busy, I am going yo divide this post in sections each one talking about a toxin)

This weeks toxin is - LEAD

We all know lead is bad, it can be found in your water supply, old construction materials, and paint in your home, it has also been known to turn up in painted toys and kids jewelry.

"Scientists have found there is no safe level of lead for children - even the smallest amount effects a child's ability to learn. Children are more vulnerable than adults to lead. Lead impacts brain development, causing learning and developmental problems including decreased IQ scores, shorter attention spans, and delayed learning" 1

Because lead is a natural element it is found in almost everything around us, trace amounts are probably in all toys. What you want is that your toy does not leach lead. Well this should not only apply to toys but to everything in your home; but we are talking about toys.

How do I avoid lead toys, unless you personally test all your toys for lead there is no way of being 100% certain that your child does not own a toy that contains lead but there are ways you can reduce the chance of this happening.

1. avoid buying no-name brand toys
2. avoid buying toys from the dollar store - they are notorious for recalls
3. do not buy second hand toys that have metal bits or paint unless you know the manufacturer. This way you can look up the toy to see if it has ever been recall
4. do not buy metal jewelry - especial cheep jewelry - for young children. Over 20% of children jewelry contain lead.
5. buy a home lead kit test and test some of your toys, the results may surprise you. (I hope that you do not find any lead in your toys buy I would not count on it)
6. my last tip is use your common sens, check up on the company see if they have had recalls in the past for lead, if so how many, how long ago. If the company has a bad reputation and lots of recalls I would personally avoid purchasing from them.

Number 5 said to get a lead paint test kit, these can be purchased at most reputable paint stores.

Additional reading:
Lead saftey in Toys
A third of toys contain detectable lead
Consumer Product Recalls
Product Recalls
Healthy Toys

I leave you with this question: Have you ever had experience with lead in toys? do you have tips on how to help to avoid lead in toys?

1 - Healthy Toys

Valentine alternate to chocolate

I wanted to get a present for my sweetheart (my son) for valentines that was not made from plastic, candy or chocolate.

After doing a quick search on Etsy for Valentine and Toy I found "Valentine hearts play set with wooden bowls" by naturalkidsandtoys.

There are thousands of alternative gifts out there you just need to search a bit.

Image by naturalkidsandtoys

Movie Mondays

We do not have many plastic toys for Christophe, but this one is a hand me down and it's way too cute how he dances to the music each time to take it away from him...

I find he is also getting a lot better about putting things in his mouth.

Toy Thursday

I love chunky puzzles they are fun and bright and make for great educational toys. They help with motor skills and if you describe all the pictures language skills. It hard to find puzzles that a suitable for little ones that still put everything in their mouth (you need to make sure they have no small pieces). Melissa and Doug has this great series of chunky touch and feel puzzles; each puzzle piece has a textured surface and is quite large enough for little hands.

Thank you memere and pepere for the great puzzle.

What's this white stuff?

Christophe makes me laugh all the time...

He almost never spits up anymore. However, today, while he was on his tummy, he spat up a bit and immediately started playing with it: "What's this mama, a new toy?"

The cottage

We just got back on Saturday from a week at the cottage...

Grand-mama Wiseman rented a cottage at Sauble Beach - "Frenchman Bay Cottages". The cottage was absolutely beautiful and only a 5 min walk to the beach. These were not your typical cottages it felt more like a home away from home. The owner Dorothy (she has her house on the property) was really nice and loves kids. There are 2 cottages on the property, a small play area with swings and stuff for the kids, a pond, a hammock, lots of seating, a few fire pits, access to a washer and dryer (very
important when you are doing cloth diapers). I would definitely recommend this property to anyone with kids.

You ask - what did we do for a week while at the cottage...

Monday - Left at 7 am and amazingly enough he slept right straight true until we got there 3 1/2 hours later. Once there we unpacked and headed over to the beach. The water was too cold for the little guy to go in so we hung out in the sun for a little bit, then headed back to the cottage for a quiet afternoon and night. My favorite thing rapidly became sitting on the patio reading a book while Christophe was sleeping on me. It's so quiet there.

Tuesday - We decided to skip the beach this day while our cousins Benjamin and Sarah (that were also at the cottage with there mom) went to the beach. We took a little walk and had some play time outside on our mat under the trees while I did my yoga. Christophe loved playing outside so much that I got to do 30 mins of yoga almost every day. Oh did I mention he only wok up around 7:30 am. He slept so well (once he got down for the night) at the cottage I think it was all the tranquility and the sleeping to noise of crickets, birds and other little creatures.

Wednesday - Once again we skipped the beach. However we joined in when the gang all decided to go for a trip to Wiarton. They have a play ground just by the water. Christophe enjoyed watching the kids play on the monkey bars and run around. We tried him for the first time in the baby swings on his own he seemed to enjoy it.




Thursday - Wednesday night there was a big storm and it was chilly so we stayed in for the day. In the late afternoon we decided to check Sauble Falls. As Sarah puts it "This is a very special place". You could walk right into the falls and swim around them, there must of been 50 or so people playing in the water. Since we did not have our suits we had to limit ourselves to walking about. Christophe took his first real steps always holding on to both of my hands in the falls. I think the water and the rocks helped stimulate his little feet. (Ever since then he now takes 3 to 6 steps each time you stand him up)

In the evening we went for a sunset walk along the beach; I missed walking in the water with waves crashing on your feet. Christophe really seemed to enjoy watching the waves all curled up against me.

Friday - We finally went to the beach again. I walked out in the water with Christophe and let the waves crash on us, splashing him in the toes and legs. He seemed to be amused but not to excited. I think it may have been sensory overload. Once again he really liked looking out at the waves. I tried lowering him in the water up to his waist he did not cry but mad his said frowny face so we decided not to push it and went to play on the beach instead.
Durring the afternoon we though Benjamine and Sarah how to play rummy. Tara's kids really love playing cards. In the evening Chritophe slept while I ensured everything was packed for a early departure to Toronto.

Saturday - We got on the road at 7:30 am and arrived in Orangeville for a quick stop about and hour and a half later. I pulled up at the first parking lot I saw to nurse him and it happened to be a toy store - "Kids Can Do" 163 First Street- They had a great selection of wood toys so we picked up a few items.

Alphabet blocks by ELC

and a sorting Wheel by GALT Toys.


Unfortunately the rest of the ride home was not as smooth, I got stuck in traffic twice and Christophe hates it when the car stands still so we had 2 - 15 minute crying sessions.

However when we got home both Papa and Christophe were happy to see each other.

Thank you Grand-mama for the week at the cottage.

Toy Spotting

Great educational wooden puzzle to help your wee one learn there body parts and organs; available at Honeybunch.




ABC flash cards to satisfy the geek in you; available at Etsy.

Toy Spotting

Now now everyone; you guys and gales have to admit Ronronos the cat is absolutely adorable in a weird kinda of way. This is must for Christophe collection. There are 10 adorable little critters you can get from The Delingos family. Since I am a cat and hog lover Ronronos and Pikos are my favorites. They come in 2 styles stuff toy for older kids and Baby Delingos that are flat fabric clutching toys for the wee ones.

SAFETY

I was sick for a bit so that would explain my absence. Baby and me are both fine, so no worries. I decided to divide these entries by subjects as there is a lot to say.

TOY SAFETY:
The Canadian Goverment released this notice regarding toy safety that I tought would be good to share with everyone.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/advisories-avis/info-ind/toy_lead-jouets_plomb_e.html

Also for those of you that want to keep up to date with recalls in Canada there is a great newsletter from the Canadian government that you can subscribe to.  

On our part, a few of the things we are doing for baby to keep him safe from all the dangers of toxic chemicals out in the world are:

• Use only stainless steel, glass, silicon or wood for meals.  I.E. Glass bottles, silicon trays to freeze milk or homemade food, metal sippy cups,  wood cutlery (once he is there)... If you are wondering why we don't want to use plastic check out this information on Bisphenol A.  You can also check out this great article on what plastics are safe.
• Keeping up to date with recalls both in Canada and in the US.  The US often recalls things a few days before us.
• Choosing his toys wisely, this is probably the over cautious first time parent nerves kicking in but we are doing our best to select toys from manufacturers with none to minimum amounts of recalls.  We will always have few exceptions to this rule as I know we have at lest one Fisher Price toy and we all know they had there shares or recalls. Some of the toy manufacturers that we like are:

Manhattan Toy

Vulli

Kushies

Haba

Natural Pod

Melissa & Doug