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Show Toys Come In Many Pakages During the Christmas season many toys are available on market. Selection is a challenging and frustrating task. Three important items need to be considered when selecting a toy. Safety: Toys available for sale must pass dozens of tests during the manufacturing process, as required by the USU Consumer Product Safety Commission. Such tests reduce the incidence of accidents, but do not guarantee safety for the child. Parents play an important role in assuring safety for their child. Follow these guidelines: Select durable, well finished toys. Avoid sharp edges, material that splinters easily, lightweight light-weight plastics. Check the label on painted toys to see that paint is nontoxic. non-toxic. Read; keep informed in-formed of toy safety developments. Teach your child proper safe play with toys. Check broken toys and repair or discard. Supervised play. Consider the child's age, personality, surroundings and experience. Protect the young child from toys belonging to an older child which may be dangerous. The National Electronic Elec-tronic Injury Surveillance Sur-veillance system reports that transportation toys account for 85 percent of all injuries related to toys. Hazards include riding into another child, toy, or obstacle; riding over edges of curbs, walls and steps or into the path of oncoming cars; poor selection and maintenance main-tenance of toy; and sharp edges or protruding bolts, nuts, spikes, nails etc. Major hazards from the use of non vehicular child carrying toys (pogo sticks, rocking and hobby horses) include: sharp edges, toy breakage, falling off, on or against toy and entrapment of body parts. Injuries reported with electric toys were caused by sharp edges, injestion of small parts and entrapment en-trapment of fingers in phonographs. The worst hazard associated with baby toys is the parent who uses toys as babysitters and doesn't supervise the inexperienced infant. Look for sharp points and possible entrapment areas. Keep foreign objects out of mouth or nose. Select study, durable exercises, walkers, playpens, etc. Pacificers can produce toxic or chemical burn hazards. Interests and Abilities: A child's toy interest are relatively stable. The parent needs to identify and consider these interests in-terests when selecting a toy. For example, a preschooler that enjoys tricycles will probably have an interest in wheeled toys up to his teen years. All guidelines are useful tools when selecting selec-ting a child's toy. The guidelines also reflect a scientific judgment as to what age groups would be most interested in the toy. Children prefer and benefit most from toys that are slightly above their level of competence. When selecting toys too much above their level the toys will either not be used or will cause frustration as parents attempt to force teach a child. Select toys that enable a child to master the skills important to the child at that time. For example, a toddler with increased mobility and need to establish more independence will enjoy toys that help him get around, toys to ride on and to climb on. School children are acquiring skills and their own special expertise. They enjoy toys that relate to their particular interests and hobbies. Purpose of Toy: Play is a tool which helps a child achieve mastery and imagination in his thinking. Parents should provide toys that meet each of these play needs: Active physical needs toys which enable a child to exercise and build a strong body. Manipulative, constructive, con-structive, creative, and scientific needs toys which satisfy the need to investigate, explore, experiment, discover, manipulate and create. Imitative, imaginative and dramatic play needs toys which help a child improve understanding of the adult world. Social play needs toys that each teach social abilities and values. |