8 Tips for cleaning your toddler’s toys

For parents, choosing safe toys is not the final step in making sure the kids are safe. The toys also need plenty of maintenance to keep them in one piece and also germ free.

Children play with their toys everywhere: in the house, in the pool, the bathtub and in raw dirt. What’s a parent to do? Kids need to experience life and playing in these environments is an important part of that. It’s fun, it’s educational and it’s normal.

As a parent, you must not prevent your kid from getting dirty, but instead just make sure that it’s safe and that the toys don’t carry any potentially dangerous germs.

Here are a few tips for keeping your child’s toys clean and safe:

1. Wash large toys outside. If you’ve got ride-on toys, big toy trucks or any similar devices, use a garden hose and powerfully spray any dirt that you can see. If you want to be particularly careful, you can use some hot soapy water that will instantly kill any germs.
2. Wash all stuffed toys in a washing machine every couple of weeks. They tend to gather lots of dust and other microscopic insects that may be harmful. Check the label for instructions.
3. Hard plastic toys are easy to clean in a dishwasher. Thanks to high temperature, the toys are sterilized and free of germs in a matter of minutes. It’s ok to use normal dishwashing detergent and the toys will smell like fresh lemons or oranges.
4. For toys that may get damaged at high temperature, you can wash them by hand with warm soapy water. If their design is a little more intricate, you can use a tootbrush to get all the dirt out of any small holes they may have. You can leave the toys to soak in the water for a few minutes before actually washing them.
5. For wooden toys, hot water can not only damage the paint but it can also break them in pieces. Use a soft cloth soiled in warm soapy water and gently remove any dirt.
6. Use sanitizer. You can spray the toys with it and come back after a few minutes to wipe is off with a soft cloth. Careful with it because it may damage the paint.
7. Wash bath toys as soon as you finished bathing the kid. Any dirt that’s in the bath tub will end up on the toys and, in a wet environment, they are a perfect habitat for germ development. Wash them and leave them to dry in a well ventilated room or in the sun, then store them in a wet free place.
8. Throroughly wash the kid pools and leave them to dry before packing them up and putting them in the locker. The kids have picked everything that layed in the garden on their feet and brought it into the pool. Clean it up while it’s easy, or you’ll have a nightmare trying to clean it up later.

And that’s pretty much all there is to it. Keeping your kid in a safe environment is a key to a happy childhood, but don’t get overboard with it. Kids need to experience life and getting in contact with dirt thoughens their immune system.

Eugen Lisov is the creator of http://www.child-toys-guide.com , a place where you can find great information about choosing toys for all ages and also lots of reviews of the most popular toys today. For more on toddler toys, visit http://www.child-toys-guide.com/toddler-toys.shtml.

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