Toys are an essential component of a child’s developmental years. Not only do they form an important component of early education for the child, they are also highly prized and desirable objects for the child, who can often spend hours together in the company of his or her favourite toy. The importance of toys in a child’s life is thus underlined by the large amount of time that a child spends in physical and emotional contact with these. Therefore, while buying toys for children; two major aspects should be thoroughly looked at – the physical safety of the toy, and the emotional and cerebral impact of the toy on the child.

Talking about the physical safety of toys, it is important to look at the material, design and construction of the toy in question. Materials like cheap plastics, lead paints and brittle plastics should be avoided at all costs. The design of the toy should be age appropriate. That is to say that small components and parts should not be present in the toys of younger children. These obviously constitute a choking hazard, and the child tends to lose these small components quite easily, rendering the whole assembly worthless. Look out for allergies to synthetic fur used in stuffed toys. The construction of the toy should not have any sharp edges or vertices. These can hurt the child.

Children tend to put toys inside their mouth quite often, so if your child is below approximately six years of age, avoid buying toys like putty, clay and paints unless you are absolutely able to supervise playtime. The educational aspect of any toy is perhaps even more important than the physical aspect. It is a proven fact that children learn through play, and also gather information about things as mundane as touch, smell and taste to more complex aspects like social expectations, gender roles as well as natural instincts. Do not force your male child to discard playing with dolls if he likes to play with them. Also, it is advisable to look out for features that can be counter productive to a child’s development. These include spelling mistakes on board games, utilization of retrograde and antisocial language and/or violent components.

Look out for the age specifications given on the toy by the manufacturer. Most importantly, do keep your child’s interests in mind.