Nursery World - Positive Relationships: A parent's guide to ... Choosing toys for children under three years

Toys. They are everywhere. Gone are the days when they were only sold in toy shops. Now they are a few shelves away from the food in the supermarket and the aspirin in the chemist. They are not cheap, either. So, what is worth buying and, more importantly, what will genuinely help your child to learn?

In this guide, we look at choosing toys for children under three, and in the next, we will consider older children.

Our starting point with babies and toddlers is safety. In these first three years, toys have to be strong and well designed. If you have a child under two years, it is highly likely that an object will end up in your child's mouth. This is known as 'mouthing' and is a perfectly normal way for babies and young toddlers to explore. It does mean, however, that toys and anything else that you give your child must be large enough to prevent choking.

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