Official Blog of InstructiveToys.com

Baby toys first 3 months

2009-03-28T08:23:00.005Z

Baby toys in the first three months should match his or her abilities. So what abilities does he or she have?

Your baby can't see clearly anything which is further than 12 to 15 inches away but they can easily distinguish anything which is less distance than that. Your baby likes bright colors but is not so good on delicate pastel shades. They like curves but are not so fond of sharp edged objects. They don't like loud noises because they frighten them but they love the soft tones of voices particularly their mothers. Babies hands will want to investigate the objects around him or her but they won't be able to pick them up in the first few weeks.

So which babies toys can meet these abilities?

In the first few weeks a musical mobile will fascinate your baby particularly if it is brightly colored. It will also add soft music to lull your little one to sleep. Mobiles can also be used in the car. Whilst baby can't see out of the windows a car mobile will keep them interested whilst they are awake and the movement of the car normally sends them straight off to sleep.

Your youngster will spend most of their time when they are not in their parent's arms lying down in the crib or pram so a playmat will add a colorful alternative. It will also give baby their first experience of touch. Most play mats are brightly colored so once again the little person will be fascinated by the colors.

Once your baby starts to explore with their hands a soft book will have a number of advantages. Firstly it gives baby and mother the opportunity to bond whilst mum "reads" the book to their child. Secondly baby can feel the book and the different touch it has to the sheets and clothes it is used to. Babies experience will also be enhanced by seeing animals or household objects in fact there are soft books about almost anything.

So you can see there are lots of baby toys which can help your babies development in sight touch and sound.

Londoner's day out

2008-06-22T11:18:00.006+01:00

This year for the first time I went to Epsom race course on Derby Day. Now traditionally Derby day is the Londoner's day out. For those of the non racing fraternity the Derby is one of the 5 classic races in the United Kingdom with prize money of over £1,000,000.

It is an amazing experience. There were thousands of spectators most of whom were inside the race track itself. It is free to enter (unless you go in the grandstand) and most people take a picnic and make a real day out of it.

We were standing right by the rails in a spot which had been reserved by one of our friends. Every year she goes very early on Derby day morning to stake a claim for a bit of space.

As it was a nice fine day this year it was busier than ever and the atmosphere was electric. There's the excitement of the races, the groans as you lose your money and the shouts of delight for those who pick the winners.

If you're wise you do as I did which is to decide how much you can afford to lose, then divide it by the number of races you will be seeing and just bet that amount. I being a wonderful tipster managed to lose all the £10 (about $20) I had decided to risk. So if you ever see me at the Derby in the future look at what horse I'm backing and then back something else.

Do you have bad months?

2008-06-14T08:54:00.003+01:00

For me May is the most expensive time of the year apart from Christmas. My daughter and sister in law have their birthdays on the 13th, my wife has hers on the 22nd, my son has his on the 25th, my ex-wife has hers on the 27th and my sister has hers on the 28th. It used to be worse my late dad's birthday was on the 9th. So you can see I have to start saving for May just after Christmas.

This year my daughter organized a family birthday party on the Sunday before her birthday and all the family were invited. This included my grand-daughter Rosie Grace (9 months) and my great-nephew Johnie (18 months) and both had the time of their lives being spoiled by their relatives (including me).

Of course there were lots of presents given and in particular there was a present which my daughter in law Emma had wrapped up for Rosie to give to her aunt. I don't think Rosie quite understood the instructions. She spent half an hour trying to eat the present.

Kids Saving

2008-05-29T09:59:00.003+01:00

To some kids saving comes naturally. My interest in saving goes back to my childhood. My mother used to save money in jars to pay the bills. There was a jar for the milkman, for the gas bill, for the electricity bill and two savings jars. One of the savings jars was fed with farthings, halfpennies and pennies which came from the purses of my mother and aunt and was given to my cousin and me for holiday spending money.

Although I did not know it at the time this practice of saving small change in a jar is reputed to be one of the reasons that the name Piggy Bank came about. Sealed Jars were fed with small change and broken open when they were full, just as pigs were fed with scraps until they were fat and then slaughtered for their meat so that the farmer could get back the investment he had made in them.

An alternative theory of the name Piggy Bank is that it comes from the word pygg a type of clay used to make storage jars in the Middle Ages. Money was sometimes stored in these pygg jars and these eventually became known as Piggy Jars.

Whichever is the true reason behind the name of the money bank, the practice of saving money using them, gradually became something that was mostly done by children. They became pig shaped because that was an easy shape to model out of clay. Originally they only had an opening at the top, but modern money boxes also have a means of getting the savings out without having to break the bank.

Nowadays Piggy Banks come in all shapes and sizes and are made from many different materials including wood and plastic whilst there are still many pottery ones available. So getting your kids saving can be fun.

There are no Creative Toys

2008-05-29T09:04:00.007+01:00

Toys by their very nature are inanimate and can't demonstrate any creativity. No it is the child who is creative. They are the ones who pick up creative toys and experiment with them to do something with them the manufacturer and retailer would and could not have thought of.

Creativity in young children is demonstrated by imaginative thinking, adventuresome personality and intrinsic motivation and the creative wooden toys or creative toddler toys they use are only a means of showing one or more of these actions.

When my eldest boy Timothy was 18 months old his grandfather and grandmother bought him a pedal car for Christmas. When the time came for handing out presents his eyes lit up when he saw this big parcel in its pretty colored wrapping paper. His grandfather was delighted and helped him unwrap his present. His delight however was short lived because once the pedal car was out of it's big box my son ignored it and immediately rushed to play with the box where his imagination could turn it into anything he wanted.

When my youngest son Anthony was about 9 months old he nearly gave his mother a heart attack by diving headfirst out of his baby carriage. He was just doing it to see what happened. Luckily he was not hurt other than a minor graze but this "experiment" didn't stop his adventurous nature at 1 year old his favorite toy acquired from a kitchen cupboard was a teapot.

What creative toys must do is to encourage our youngsters to use their imaginations, be able to experiment and to have the motivation to keep on until they have succeeded.

Nursery Folding Trampoline

2008-05-25T10:07:00.005+01:00

The world we live in seems obsessed with health and fitness so its not surprising that Galt Toys have produced a Nursery Folding Trampoline.

This kids trampoline is ideal for children from 2 years of age upward but the safety limit of 77 pounds will probably determine the upper age limit.

As you would expect with a children's fitness toy it has a number of safety features. Firstly there is the weight limit mentioned above. Then there is the safety handle to give that added confidence when jumping. There is also a padded cover around the bungee cords so that little feet don't get caught. Finally the manufacturers advise that children using the trampoline are always supervised by an adult.

The assembled size is 32 and 1/4 inches high by 33 and 3/4 inches wide by 33 and 3/4 inches long so it should make outdoor play possible in even the smallest garden or perhaps indoors in the play room in bad weather. The manufacturers have also made it easy to store away. The handle can be quickly unscrewed and the legs fold down.

We all know the benefits of regular exercise. What better way to start your youngsters on the way to fitness and health than to get them a Nursery Folding Trampoline.

Londons most wonderful church?

2008-05-23T12:40:00.005+01:00

If you were asked which was the best Wren church in London what would you reply? St Paul's Cathedral? Well for me there is a hidden gem known only to a few people and that is St Stephen Walbrook. Now I've lived in and around London for most of my life but I only found out about this delightful church this week.

When my wife retired she joined the National Health Service Retirement Fellowship and as her spouse I was also eligible to join so I did. Now every month we go on a trip to various parts of Greater London. This month we were guided round some of the churches of the city of London.

Our guide was Tony Tucker author of the highly informative The visitor's guide to the City of London Churches. I could prattle on about what a wonderful guide he was but I don't suppose you've got two days spare. What I will say is that if you ever see that Tony is giving a lecture in your area go to it.

We saw a number of really great Wren churches but Tony saved the best till last. St Stephen's church is built on the banks of the River Walbrook which flows into the Thames but is completely hidden under the city.

This church is really stunning. From the outside it hides the treasure trove of delights which are found inside. London's first ever dome above a Henry Moore altar showing that old and new can co-exist.

The church is situated behind the Mansion House which is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London and I would advise any visitor to the capital to pay it a visit.

History of Building Toys

2008-05-20T12:27:00.002+01:00

The first building toys were wooden building bricks made in Germany at the end of the 18th century. They were created by country craftsmen and were imitations of buildings seen in villages and farms. They prospered because they were cheap to produce but it was Friedrich Frobel the creator of the kindergarten system who created educational building blocks for teaching purposes. His wood building toy was 1 inch square and varied from 1 inch to 11 inches long and he used them to teach mathematics. For example he could show children that if you laid a 1 inch block beside an 11 in block it was the same length as a 9 inch block beside a 3 inch one.

Frobel's idea was developed by Gustav and Otto Lilienthal, two brothers who were both Architects. They created artificial stone blocks using quartz sand, chalk and linseed oil and colored by dyes which looked like miniature bricks, sandstone and slate. Their building toys were much more stable than the ones produced for Frobel. Unfortunately they were not good businessmen so failed to sell their products but Friedrich Adolf Richter took their idea and started the Anchor Stone company in Rudolstadt, Thuringia Germany and these blocks became world famous.

Another great influence in the toy building kit we see today were the alphabet bricks which were used to teach young children particularly in preschool nurseries.

The next development were the interlocking tongue-and-groove joints introduced by Charles M. Crandall. In 1867 he took over his father's woodworking shop in Covington, Pennsylvania and changed the emphasis to toy making. His interlocking blocks allowed children to create many different figures particularly circus acrobats. This ability to be able to create different "models" with one toy building kit was taken a step further by Frank Hornby in 1901 whose metal strips with holes which could be joined together by nuts and bolts led to the "Mechanics Made Easy" kits or Meccano as we know it now.

The introduction of plastic has of course given manufacturers the ability to create construction sets which adhere to very tight specifications. Lego was introduced by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 firstly with wooden blocks but it was the introduction of the plastic bricks which gave us the construction toys we know so well today.

So the construction toys of today were developed from the classic building toys of the past. Today's Lego, Knex and Clics were foreseen in the 1860's and baby building blocks were first thought of by Friedrich Frobel who was born in 1782.

History of Wood Jigsaws

2008-05-18T12:14:00.005+01:00

These early puzzles were called Dissected Maps and were used by teachers of geography as an educational aid. Even today children still play with map jigsaws, one of the most popular being the map of the United States of America. These early cut out puzzles were unlike the modern ones in that there were no interlocking pieces. This development happened about 1880 when the first treadle saws came into use and the dissected puzzle became the jigsaw puzzle though the puzzles were actually cut using a fretsaw. The pictures were stuck on a board and the interlocking pieces were drawn on the back of the board and then cut out by hand. This made them very expensive, for example in 1908 a 500-piece puzzle cost about $5 when the average worker only earned around $50 a month.

It was the introduction of die-cutting which made the jigsaw puzzle what it is today. Die-cutting is done by twisting thin strips of metal with sharpened edges into intricate patterns and fastening them onto a plate. This plate is then pressed down on the cardboard to make the cut. This dramatically reduced the costs and made them affordable by almost everyone. The surprising thing is that it was actually the Depression which really sealed their success. The Jigsaw was a comparatively cheap means of entertainment and could be re-done many times. It was also helped by advertisers giving away free jigsaw puzzles with their products.

The jigsaw puzzle is still very popular particularly with very young children but also has a large following with adults as the puzzles become more varied and difficult. So we have gone from the original dissected maps to the large selection of puzzles we have available today but as in the original the wooden jigsaw puzzle remains a top seller today.

Opensided Doll House

2008-05-16T07:22:00.002+01:00

When she was young my eldest daughter Fiona had a doll house. She really loved it and played with it continually but one thing she complained about was that it only had two rooms.

This must have been a common complaint because Galt Toys have produced an open sided dolls house which has 8 rooms. The beauty of this dollhouse is that it folds flat so that it can be stored easily. When taken out of the store it can then be quickly assembled without the need for any tools.

It has two stories and each room is directly accessible so that the proud young owner can fill them with their choice of furniture and play people. This also gives parents and grandparents an opportunity. Each holiday and birthday could be used to furnish a new room. Just imagine the delight as each new piece of furniture is unwrapped and then carefully fitted into it's appropriate room.

My daughter Fiona would have adored this doll house but I think that with a son 23 years old she may just be a little old for it.

Boys Toys

2008-04-15T15:52:00.004+01:00

For years psychologists have been trying to see whether boys and girls are naturally attracted to the toys that they play with. Do boys really like guns? Do girls really like dolls? It's always been difficult to prove one way or the other because by the time children are old enough to choose their own toys they have already been pre-conditioned. They have been bought boys toys if they are boys and girls toys if they are girls. They will have seen television and been to the movies and will have been influenced by everything they have seen.

This was the problem faced by Kim Wallen and his team from the Yerkes national Primate Research Centre in Atlanta, Georgia. So they decided to do a test on 34 rhesus monkeys. These monkeys had not been influenced by the environment so they wanted to see what would happen when they put them in with typical boys and girls toys.

The result was surprising. The 23 girl monkeys were curious about all the toys but the 11 boy monkeys went straight for the wheeled toys like dump trucks and completely ignored the plush "girls" toys.

So it really does seem to mean that boys will be boys.

The Toy Box

2008-04-15T08:52:00.005+01:00

Have you ever trodden on one of your child's toys? Do you want your living room back? Nowadays most parents and grandparents buy lots of toys for their offspring and grandchildren. So regularly there are toys scattered all over the floor. What you need is a Toy Box. So how do you go about choosing that toy storage?

Well first they come in all sizes. Next what shape do you want? Most are square but some can be circular or pentagonal (5 sided) or hexagonal (6 sided). What if you have to buy for more than one youngster? You may need personalized toy chests. Is the color important? Does the box have to match the decor of the child's room? All these style questions are probably easily answered because toy boxes like any other piece of furniture have to blend with that which is already there.

More important is how safe will that toy chest be? Well here are a few simple rules.

* If the toy box is painted is it lead free? Is it free from any other toxicity? If the box can't meet this standard don't buy it.

* Does the box have a lid? If so is it removable? If not does it have a support that will hold it in any position? Or better still does it have a safety hinge which keeps it open in any position? If the unit doesn't meet this standard but is still what you want then unscrew the lid or fix a safety spring-loaded lid support.

* At some time your kids will climb into their toy boxes. So do the boxes have air holes for ventilation? If not drill some in it.

* Does the toy trunk have rubber stoppers so that there is a gap when the lid is closed to protect your children's fingers. If not and it doesn't have a safety hinge fit them yourself.

* Is the storage box lockable? If it is and the locking is by a latch on the outside, remove the latch. If the lock is an inbuilt one then make sure the key is stored out of the way so that tiny fingers can't lock friends in the box.

If you can find a toy box which meets all these safety standards you will be able to reclaim your floor and your kids will have safe fun.

A stroll along the Thames

2008-04-02T15:42:00.002+01:00

Last Sunday my wife and I decided to investigate a riverside walk beside the Thames. We started in the Surrey Quays area in South London very close to where my sister-in-law used to live and walked from there past Tower Bridge to London Bridge.

This area used to be the Southern Dockyards but now the whole area has been gentrified and some of the old dock features have been given new uses. The strange thing for my wife and I is that we were walking through the part of London where my wife's ancestors lived. These are not the famous areas of London known throughout the world but Rotherhithe and Bermondsey two districts more famous in their past for their slums. What a difference 60 years have made. The area is now so sought after that you would have to pay about £500,000 ($1,000,000) to buy even the smallest of dwellings there.

We started our walk at Greenland dock but instead of the bustle of cranes and ships you can now see expensive riverside apartments and yachts more usual in a marina in Cannes. Our first "re-used" dock is now a city farm which is very popular with children and was started about 20 years ago. In the early days it was to give the local kids a sight of animals they would never see normally like cows and sheep and goats. They've now added geese and turkeys and pigs and chicken which makes it a great day out particularly for the younger folk.

Past the farm we were able to walk alongside the Thames on the pedestrian paths which have replaced in most places the old wharfs and warehouses. On the other side of the river we could see the skyscrapers on the "Isle of Dogs". Where the paths ran out we walked along Rotherhithe Street which is the longest street in London and very much changed from the busy dock road it was in my wife's family's days. As you come to the next stretch of the riverside walkway there is a Heritage and Education Museum. This has been set up in the old Pump house which used to regulate the water levels in the docks. We didn't go in because a few months ago we took a special trip to see the museum and the environmental garden which has been set up all around it.

Our final port of call was to the Brunel museum sited in the old engine house. This was the engine house which pumped out the Rotherhithe Tunnel the first ever tunnel under a navigable river and still used by London traffic today.

What I love about living near to this historic old city is that you can get up to see the Thames with it's riverboats still busy to-ing and fro-ing. If you do ever manage to get to London then investigate the non tourist areas and I think you'll be well rewarded.

What is an Educational Toy?

2008-03-31T09:43:00.005+01:00

We live in a competitive world so parents and grandparents have changed their view on toys. What they look for now are toys which help their children 'play and learn'. This has been the major factor in the growth of the educational toys market. So what is an educational toy?

According to child psychologists, educational toys are those that help children to develop specific skills, as against toys that present facts or simply claim to improve learning. The reality is that all experiences help a child to develop their brain. A toy to be educational has to help in the development of a number of different skills. They could be physical skills like helping a toddler to walk. They could be mental skills such as toys which assist a kid in learning their alphabet. They could be emotional, most parents have seen the love and affection an infant has for a cuddly bear for example. Finally they could be social development skills, kids start with a relationship with their parents but this is then broadened out into the larger family and to nursery and toddler groups outside the family.

Research at Stanford University has lead to the conclusion that Toys that stimulate a young child's mind could permanently boost their brain function. Three quarters of brain growth occurs in the first six years of life. Studies from as early as the 1940s prove that IQ can be increased by as much as 50 if a child is encouraged and stimulated in the first six years. An educational toy should help your little ones think, or do things, or solve problems or just make things happen.

Much as it pains me to say so as a toy seller educational toys do not have to be expensive. My eldest son got more joy from a large cardboard box than the pedal car which it had contained.

Cool baby!

2008-03-25T00:18:00.005Z

On Wednesday last we went over to see my son and daughter in law and my grandaughter Rosie Grace. She is just coming up to 8 months old and it's amazing how bright she is (no prejudice of course).

Her mum and dad bought her a play centre with all sorts of noisy toys and musical features which really make her laugh. However the things which keep her occupied are mostly the things her mother has put together for her in a big basket.

There's some small filled socks with different odours. Some jars containing beads which rattle. Some crinkly paper and some silver foil which glitters. She loves all of these various items but her favourite is a small kitchen wire food beater.

Her mother Emma used to be a nursery nurse so she's collected together all these wonderful objects just to get little Rosie used to things other than toys.

Unhappy Children

2008-03-18T08:47:00.006Z

My daily newspaper The Independent had a quite worrying article last week which quoted a Unicef (UN children's agency) report. This report contained a survey showing that school children in the United Kingdom were the unhappiest of 21 countries surveyed in the Western world.

This was the third report about children in school. "A review of Primary Education" by Professor Robin Alexander said there was a "worrying loss of Childhood" which lead to "antisocial behaviour, materialism and the cult of celebrity". "An inquiry into testing and assessment" by the National Association of Headteachers said that "government ministers had presided over the death of fun and play in the primary school curriculum".

All of these reports seemed to blame the SATS (Standard Assessment Tests) which are given at the end of year 2, year 6 and year 9. These were introduced by the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1980s and have been carried on by successive governments in the UK. Schools are judged on their attainments in these tests and league tables are drawn up to compare school against school.

Now when I attended primary school more than 60 years ago everybody went to their local school. Of course discipline was a lot stricter then but even so I still remember school days as being some of the happiest of my life. We did have tests but they were in the last year of junior school (year 6) so before that the emphasis was on helping us to learn.

Nowadays the schools seem to concentrate wholy on getting pupils through their SATs and as has been seen this has meant that the fun of school days has been lost. I find that rather sad.

To read the complete article click Unhappy children

Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles

2008-03-18T06:21:00.009Z

The wooden jigsaw puzzle is over 200 years old and though there is some dispute as to which was the first jigsaw puzzle it was certainly invented between 1760 and 1770. The most likely inventors were map makers though whether it was John Splisbury an English map seller or Covens and Mortier of Amsterdam is not clear. What is certain is that around 1760 maps were stuck onto wooden boards and the outlines of either counties or countries were cut out to make a puzzle.

These early puzzles were called "Dissected Maps" and were used by teachers of geography as an educational aid. Even today children still play with map jigsaws, one of the most popular being the map of the USA. The early dissected maps were unlike the modern ones in that there were no interlocking pieces. This development didn't happen until about 1880 when the first treadle saws came into use and the dissected puzzle became the jigsaw puzzle though the puzzles were actually cut using a fret saw. The pictures were stuck on a board and the interlocking pieces were drawn on the back of the board and then cut out by hand. This made them very expensive, for example in 1908 a 500-piece puzzle cost about $5 when the average worker only earned around $50 a month.

It was the introduction of die-cutting which made jigsaws what they are today. Die-cutting is done by twisting thin strips of metal with sharpened edges into intricate patterns and fastening them onto a plate. This plate is then pressed down on the cardboard to make the cut. This dramatically reduced the costs and made them affordable by almost everyone.

The surprising thing is that it was actually the Depression which really sealed their success. The Jigsaw was a comparatively cheap means of entertainment and had the advantage of also being recyclable. It was also helped by advertisers giving away free jigsaw puzzles with their products so even the poorest families sometimes acquired puzzles.

Kids jigsaw puzzles are still very popular but because difficult puzzles are common adults are sometimes even more addicted than the children.

So we have gone from the original dissected maps to the large selection of puzzles we have available today but as in the original wooden jigsaw puzzles remain top sellers today.

Isn't the human race wonderful?

2008-03-10T13:28:00.001Z

I don't know if you happened to hear a most heartwarming story which has come out of Canada.

Sadly a young girl Karissa Boudreau aged 12 years was found dead on the 9th February in Bridgewater NS. This sad event led to hundreds of lovely people leaving Tedy Bears at the site where her body was found.

Her relatives together with the people of Bridgewater have collected up all the Teddies and have packaged them to be sent to groups who deal with traumatised children. This includes firefighters, the police and the Red Cross.

My heart warms to a family and their neighbours who despite their grief have such humanity that they can still think of others and are responsible for such a wonderful act of kindness.

Wooden Rocking Horses

2008-03-10T09:08:00.000Z

Did you ever have a ride on toy as a child? Well ride on toys are not new, Wooden Rocking Horses played an important part in children's amusement way back in the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations. Nearly every toy started life as an educational toy because most toys came about because children wanted to copy what they saw their parents doing.

Throughout history kids saw adults riding horses or using horses to transport goods or pulling ploughs to till the soil. So children were encouraged to copy these actions with horses that they pushed along which were very similar to the modern day baby walker. However what they most wanted to do was to copy their parents riding, so the hobby horse came into being. Basically this was just a stick with a carved horse's head at one end and eventually with wheels at the other end. The children could sit astride this "horse" and ride out their fantasies. These "hobby horses" evolved into crude carved horses with added wheels and the youngster could sit astride these "wooden toys".

By the time the 16th and 17th centuries had arrived these horses had become almost lifelike in detail and quite a few examples of the antique rocking horse still exist. Around 1605-10 when King Charles the First of England was a boy he had a rocking horse which can be seen in the Victoria and Albert museum of Childhood situated in the Bethnal Green area of London. These early examples were nearly all made of wood and had bow shaped rockers.

The biggest boost to the wooden rocking horse came with an American invention, the swing safety stand which was basically two parallel bars with the horse fixed in between. The advantage of these over the old bow rocker style was that they took up less room for the same size horse. This lead to the golden age of the rocking horse toy which was roughly between the 1880 to 1930 but the introduction of the motor car gave children other ride on toys to play with. Pedal cars to sit in, cars to push, cars to pull and automobile tracks for toy cars to race around. So by the 1960 s the rocking horse had widely died out.

Luckily the charm of these wonderful playthings has lead to a re-emergence of the rocking horse toy, a lot of which have gone back to the original bow rockers because of their safety and stability. Even grow-ups have their own version in the bronco rides which can be seen in some bar rooms. So long live wooden rocking horses, I hope my great grandchildren and their children can still get all the fun of pretend horse riding, it might even encourage them to ride the real beautiful beasts who have always served mankind so well.

Senate votes for tougher toy inspections

2008-03-09T13:33:00.002Z

You may have seen that the senate voted 79-13 to introduce tougher inspection standards on all toys made outside the USA. Now of course as a toy seller I welcome any legislation which helps to protect children but will this new law mean that all our toys are now safe.

Well lets look at a few facts 68% of toy recalls made in the USA in 2006 were for design faults and since 1988 nearly 75% of all recalls have been because of design faults.

What do we mean by design faults? Well small parts which can easily be detached by a small child for one. Toys which have sharp edges and could cause harm to a young infant. Toys that have long strings in which a youngster could become entangled or worse. Foreign manufacturers build toys to designs mainly produced in the USA so whilst these manufacturers get the blame when toys are recalled in quite a number of cases it isn't their fault.

If legislation is necessary and in most cases I would agree that it is then lobby your senator or congressman to introduce some inspection and risk assessment at the design and patent stage. That way dangerous designs and expensive recalls could possibly be avoided and more importantly our children can play safely.

See my previous posts on toy safety standards and toy safety.

Grandads Little Finger

2008-03-02T13:41:00.000Z

In October my wife and children arranged a surprise party for my 70th birthday. This came as a great surprise though my youngest daughter Jennifer said I should have guessed because of all the phone calls she had been making to my wife. I did suggest that my daughter speaking to her mother rather than her father was not an unusual event. What was nice about the party was seeing friends and family I hadn't seen for some time and I have to say a great time was had by all.

My youngest son Anthony and his lovely wife Emma brought my grandaughter Rosie Grace and said that there was another present on it's way to me. To be honest I forgot all about this until just before Christmas when Emma and Tony asked my wife Joy and I over for dinner. After we had all dined they bought out this great parcel and said "Here Dad. Here's your birthday present"

What they had got for me was one of the most wonderful presents I have ever had. It was a limited edition lithograph copy of McKenzie Thorpe's painting "Grandads Little Finger". It hangs proudly on my wall and I can't wait for the time little Rosie is old enough to be able to have a walk with her grandad just like the little girl in the picture.

Virtual Worlds

2008-02-26T07:21:00.000Z

According to eMarketer the research organisation 24% of US internet users who are children or teenagers visited virtual worlds in 2007. They also predict that by 2011 this percentage will have risen to 53%.

Now as a internet marketer this statistic gives me some delight and some sadness. I am delighted that more kids are taking to the internet this can only lead to a more sympathetic understanding of our fellow human beings.

The internet is an amazing source of information and yes I know that there are a number of downs like pornography and fraud but if you take care you can avoid these downs and concentrate on the wonderful people and companies that make up 95% of the internet.

My sadness at the increasing number of children "hooked" on the internet is whether this is going to lead to a loss of their ability to learn by their own experiences.

When my eldest son Timothy was 18 months old his grandfather and grandmother bought him a pedal car for Christmas. When he saw the great big package his eyes lit up and his grandfather rushed to help him undo the gift wrapping. Once open his grandfather carefully lifted the pedal car out of it's box and proudly put it on the floor beside Tim. Tim completely ignored it and immediately dived into the box it had come out of and continued to play with it all day despite his grandfather's efforts to attract him to the pedal car.

Kids need to let their imaginations run wild and I fear that "Virtual Worlds" may quench that imaginative streak.

Matching Toys to your kids age

2008-02-25T11:01:00.000Z

As a toy seller I am often asked advice about what toys are suitable for children of various ages. I always try to answer as best I can based on my experience as a parent who had 4 children and on the toys I have sold which seem to give the most enjoyment.

Just recently I came across a publication called "Age Determination Guidelines" which was produced for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) by James A. Therrell. This excellent document tries to match the characteristics of toys to childrens ages and the play behaviour which they would exhibit at those ages.

I thoroughly recommend this work to all parents. You can see a copy of it online at http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/adg.pdf.

Toy Safety

2008-02-20T07:29:00.001Z

I noticed today that Nancy Nord the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSS) was speaking at the annual American International Toy Fair expo.

The CPSS was recently criticised for acting too slowly in preventing dangerous products particularly toys going on sale to the public. She did lay some blame on the toy industry for the spate of toy recalls saying that they showed a lack of quality control.

Out of the bad however some good has come because there will now be a mandatory testing program for all toys sold in the USA.

I would still advise parents to take the precautions I detailed in my previous posting on this blog Toy Safety Standards.

How kids develop

2008-01-28T15:10:00.000Z

We got over to see my lovely grandaughter Rosie Grace last week. You must forgive me for continually talking about Rosie but as my youngest daughter will be 28 this year I must admit that this old brain had forgotten some of the delights we had when the children were very young.

What I particularly like watching as a toy seller is what interest Rosie takes in the things particularly toys which surround her. At the moment at five and a half months she takes a great interest in almost everything but her favourite is a music box with two dancing ducks on the top. She loves the music but like everything else at this age her main joy is in trying to chew it.

Her mother my lovely daughter in law Emma used to work at a nursery school so she has lots of ideas to get Rosie's attention. She has filled some small bottles with coloured water and Rosie just adores the colours and of course the fact that she can chew them.

Toy Safety Standards

2008-01-12T09:17:00.002Z

Some of you will have seen the recent toy recalls and might be wondering how you can check to see whether the toy you are considering buying online is safe for your child. You can check Toy safety standards by looking at the toy seller's website and seeing where his toys are manufactured and what International Standard they meet. You will probably find this in their FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section but if you can't find it there then just send an email and ask.

You can also check what international standards are applicable by looking at http://www.toy-icti.org/info/toysafetystandards.html for International Standards including the USA, http://www.austoy.com.au/toysafety2.htm for Australian standards, http://www.btha.co.uk/about_us/toy_safety_guide_regs.php for the United Kingdom and for general safety rules see http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/home/safe_toys.html.

All good toy sellers will be concerned with child protection and this will probably show through in their website and in the type of toy that they sell and in the Toy Safety Standards that they demand from their suppliers.

New Year's Eve

2008-01-04T07:34:00.000Z

On New Year's Eve all my wife's family got together to meet and wish one another a Happy New Year. What was interesting was that the newest member of the family my granddaughter Rosie Grace was introduced to some of the family for the first time. Now at 5 months old we thought she would be slightly overwhelmed by the large number of people she was meeting. There were 2 parents, 2 grandparents, 2 greataunts, 1 greatuncle, 1 aunty and her boyfriend and 10 cousins for her to see and she just loved it. She cried just twice once when her youngest cousin Johny (age 1 year) was a bit overenthusiastic in his greeting and unfortunately pinched her and once when having seen everyone else eating she reminded her mother that she was unfed. The rest of the time she looked all round in wonder at the delight of so many people enjoying themselves. I hope that like my family you all had a wonderful time over the holidays and that you have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

My grand-daughter's first Christmas

2007-12-30T13:00:00.000Z

I have been a grandfather for 23 years but with only one grandchild my grandson Matthew. You can therefore imagine my delight when at the end of July 2007 my first granddaughter Rosie Grace was born. She is the apple of her parents and grandparents eye and is of course loved by all her aunts and uncles.
For me as a toy seller this is particularly exciting because I am getting to see how little Rosie reacts to toys as they are bought for her. At the moment at 5 months old she has just gone through her first Christmas and as you would expect loved opening all her presents but not just for the presents themselves but mostly for the lovely shiny paper which was so sparkly and glittering in the lights from the Christmas tree. Naturally she liked the presents as well but it was the paper which made her chuckle and smile.