10 Toy Safety Tips for Babies and Toddlers

10 Game and Toy Safety Tips for Caregivers

Toys! Mommy, can I have that toy? Can I, can I, can I? Think before you give in and buy it. All toys are not created equal. Toy safety isn't just for infants and toddlers. Children with special needs are prone to accidents with toys too. Even young, elementary-age children can choke on small toy parts or game pieces. Until about age six, kids have a tendency to put everything in their mouths. So, make yourself familiar with Game and Toy Safety Tips. Enjoy!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Toy Safety Tips and Toy Recall Information:

1. Toy shopping shouldn't be done on sight alone. When shopping for best infant toys, consider the child's age and ability. Don't waste money on flashy toys the child may not be capable of playing with.
2. Toy labels give safety warnings and recommended ages for safe toy play.
3. Children, especially those under the age of three, love to put toys and small objects in their mouth. Small game pieces, broken toys, or loose parts are choking hazards. If something can fit inside the center of a cardboard toilet roll or paper towel tube, consider it a choking hazard.
4. When putting a toy or game together, always read the instructions. Items put together incorrectly can fall apart and become a choking hazard.
5. Plastic bags and packaging are dangerous. They can be stuck in the mouth or placed over the nose. It isn't just bags that cause suffocation. A small toddler or infant can suffocate on a piece of plastic stuck over their mouth and nose.
6. Children, especially infants and babies, must be supervised at all times during toy and game play. Never leave the room and leave a small child unattended.
7. Don't mix baby toys with those of older children. Small blocks are especially attractive to younger children. Keep older children's toys put away in containers. Teach older siblings to put their toys away.
8. When toys break, discard them! Don't keep old toys around. Check toys often for broken or loose parts and sharp edges.
9. Toy storage is essential. Toys on the stairs can cause family members to trip and fall. Toys left out on the floor can be swallowed by a toddler. Keep toys for babies stored separately from toys for older children.
10. Toys with wheels and motors can pinch fingers or entangle hair. Watch children closely with these types of toys. Even cars designed for toddlers can present a problem.

For more game and toy safety tips visit safekids.org.

For game and toy recalls visit www.cpsc.gov.

Recommended Reading:

Where Is Baby's Belly Button? A Lift-the-Flap Book

Classroom Safety Tips for Early Childhood Educators

Safety Smart Science with Bill Nye the Science Guy: Fire Classroom Edition

Best Infant Toys

Continue Reading

By: admin

Thanksgiving Activity: Broomstick Toss Craft and Game for Parties

Broomstick Toss Craft and Game for Kids for Fall Parties

You are busy working in the kitchen; your kids need something to do. Take a minute to turn some plates and a broom into a fun Thanksgiving Activity. This Broomstick Toss game is perfect for preschoolers and family parties. Bring on the holiday fun! Enjoy.

Thanksgiving Game for Parties.

Jake is happy he got to use scissors, nevermind he did not follow the instructions. Let your kids experiment. Give them a plain piece of paper and a pair of kiddie scissors, and you've just earned twenty minutes of freedom. Cut the center from your mini-paper plate. Grab your broom. Dessert Plates work best.

Use Sensory Motor Skills to make this craft.

Easy Thanksgiving activity game for kids to make and play.

Thanksgiving Game for Parties  

You will need:

6 -10 paper plates, scissors, and a broom.

• Start by poking a hole in the center of your plate and cutting around to form a ring.
• Repeat with all plates.
• Divide into two teams, each team taking half the plates to opposite ends of the room.
• Get your broom, decide which team goes first.
• Unlike the traditional ring toss the player holds the broom and actively tries to catch the rings. It can be a boisterously fun game for preschoolers.
• We found when you toss your plate upside down it flies better, but it is nearly impossible to catch on the broom. So, toss your plates under-handed with the eating side up.
• When a player tosses all of their plates, tally the 'ringers' and switch sides.

The winner catches the most plates with the broom.

 

Jake beams after catching a plate- Don't tell Amanda we let her cheat!

Action!....

The kids really like this game and it is so SIMPLE.  It is a great 'busy' activity while you cook Thanksgiving Dinner. They needed very little moderation, although I can see the broomstick turning into a weapon quickly in a dispute, so don't leave them unattended for too long. :-)



Recommended Reading:

Thanksgiving Song for Kids

Thanksgiving Song for Kids

Leprechaun or Santa Placemat Papercraft Tangram Game

Tangram Template Pattern for Santa's Hat Game

This holiday homeschool math lesson for first grade, is a fun learning game for tangrams. What's in Santa's hat? Tangrams! And, yes... I realize tangram is misspelled on some of the images and printables. Who knew? Everyone here says, "TanAgrams". So, if you do too, now you know the correct spelling is T-A-N-G-R-A-M. Enjoy!

What's in Santa's Hat? Tangram game for elementary!

Shh, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. In March, Santa is a leprechaun. That's right, he just changes his clothes to green and dyes his hair and beard red. You can do it too! 

When you make our placemat papercraft free printable template, just cut green and orange to make Lucky the Leprechaun for this tangram placemat papercraft game for kids. 

It makes the perfect classroom activity for sitting quietly at your desk, or use it at the dinner table to keep the kids busy while you finish preparing dinner. 

Click on the images below for printable templates or right click and save to computer to print. The latter way might not come out the right size- it is best to click to our MediaFire storage. 

Then, trace and cut out all shapes. When sewing or gluing, leave the top of the hat band open to insert the hat/napkin. I also used the face (just glued the sides) to make the storage space larger.

Santa printable traceable pattern .

Click the image for Santa Template to download.

So, oops I misspelled tangram on my printables. Don't make the same mistake!

Tangram Pattern, that's right tangram. Watch your spelling.

Santa Math Game for First Graders.

Tip: If you are really crafty, use felt or laminate the paper to make it last longer!

Tangram Shapes 
Printable Hat 
Template Santa's Face Template


Recommended Reading:


Homeschool Lessons by Grade

Santa's Hat Companion Book Idea Ad*









ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Homeschool PE Egg Hunt for Elementary Students: Fun for a Family Get Together Party too!

Get Fit with this Creative Physical Education Easter Egg Hunt for Parties or PE Class

This Egg Hunt isn't just for Easter. Add physical fitness to your family get together, birthday party, gym class, or homeschool PE. Hide the eggs outdoors, and then hide physical fitness activities inside each egg. Make a game out of working out! In the video below, we improvised and had fun turning exercise into a fitness game that got the whole "family" involved. Enjoy!

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.

Sensory Game for Children with Marshmallows: Fun for Kids!

Marshmallow Sensory Game for Kids

Need a few minutes of peace and quiet, Marshmallows are fun game for kids and this SENSORY game for children is the perfect fix. Kids can't talk with the straws in their mouths!  Everyone is intent on winning and they all loved it! Looking for more marshmallow activities for kids? In the sidebar, enter marshmallow(s) for a list of our posts with Things to do with Marshmallows. Enjoy!

Fold the straw in half and use it like chopsticks 
to pick up the marshmallows. This way is easier for preschoolers.

 Sign up for our free newsletter

Marshmallows make great sensory games for children.

How to play Sensory Marshmallow Game

• Open up a bag of mini-marshmallows and spread them in the center of a cloth covered table. Give every kid a cup and a straw. (The teenage counselors liked it too.)

• Start with a stop-watch to increase the excitement. Let the Marshmallow Games begin!  Ready, Set, Go!  It is a race to see who can suck up the most marshmallows and place them in their cup.  No hands allowed. Suck and hold until you drop into the cup.

• I quickly realized no stop-watch was needed and let them play until all marshmallows were gone. We counted who had the most.  The winner got stickers and candy and everyone else got to eat the marshmallows!

Aren't marshmallows fun?

For another sensory element, poke marshmallows with straw.
Then, try to pick up and place into the cup before they fall off.

Recommended Reading:

The Marshmallow Incident

Fun with Marshmallows

Marshmallow Math; Early Math For Young Children

Owen's Marshmallow Chick by Kevin Henke

Turkey Marshmallows

TOSTITOS® Scoop Recipes for a Party

TOSTITOS®  Scoop Recipes for a Party

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias. Inc. and its advertisers. All opinions are mine alone. #GameDayGlory #CollectiveBias 

Are you having guests for the Big Game? We've got recipes that will be a touch down. These TOSTITOS® Scoops Appetizer Recipes are the perfect food for a big party. Get everything in party size so there is plenty to go around. We came up with some delicious baked appetizer recipes that use some of your favorites- SNICKERS® and TOSTITOS® Scoops. Enjoy!

Supreme Baked TOSTITOS® Scoops recipe for a big game party.

SNICKERS® Scoop Mini Pies.

Don't miss out on the Game Day Glory sweepstakes! Are you a super fan? Do you deck the table out with a Snack Stadium?

We'd love to see it on Instagram, be sure to share it with us with #gamedayglorysweepstakes and enter to win a $100 Walmart gift card or an Xbox One!

You can vote for yourself or your favorite Snack Stadium by clicking the Game Day Glory link at the bottom of this post.

Walmart is just a skip away, so we always pop in to make some purchases before a big party.

The Big Game requires lots of goodies, so we filled the cart with Pepsi™, SNICKERS®, TOSTITOS®, and Skittles® and then went home to create the awesome recipes below.

Supreme Baked TOSTITOS® Scoops Recipe

First down, you need to gather supplies.

1 Avocado

1/2 C. TOSTITOS® Chunky Salsa (Medium)

1/2 Bar Cream Cheese

1/2 C. Shredded Cheddar or Mexican Cheese

1 Bell Pepper, Chopped (Optional)

Grab your favorite Pepsi™ to drink, while you cook! 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. No need to spray pan. Then, place 24 TOSTITOS® Scoops on baking tray (we used a mini cupcake pan).

Peel avocado and remove the pit. 

No need to chop it up, place it in a bowl and mash it with a spoon.

Slice the Cream Cheese bar in half. Add to avocado mixture.

Mash avocado and cream cheese together.

Mix together. If mixing is difficult, mash together with a fork.

 Add in 1/2 C. TOSTITOS® Chunky Salsa.


Now, you have cream cheese avocado dip. Taste it, it's delicious!

With a large spoon, spoon dip into scoops- filling to the top. Then, sprinkle with shredded cheese. Try one, they're even better than the dip by itself! Mmm... so good; wash it down with a Pepsi™.

Place in preheated oven for 5 minutes or less. Depending on your oven, these only need to bake until the cheese melts. So, watch them closely. Remove from oven, sprinkle with chopped pepper, and serve immediately.

Touch Down! This is what your Game Day Scoops look like when served with peppers sprinkled on top.

Baked TOSTITOS® Scoops cheesy avocado appetizer.

Every salty savory needs a companion. So, make SNICKERS® 

Scoop Mini Pies for dessert.

Get the SNICKERS® variety pack.

To Make SNICKERS® Scoop Mini Pies Recipe

35 oz. Variety bag of SNICKERS®

1/2 Bar of Cream Cheese

24 TOSTITOS® Scoops

Whipped Topping

Skittles® (Optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

SNICKERS® Scoop Mini Pies.

Chop the SNICKERS® into 3-4 small slices.

Tear off a pinch of cream cheese, and place it into each Scoop.

Then, add 1 slice of SNICKERS® into each scoop.

Place in preheated oven for 5-8 minutes- just until melted. Remove from oven, and smash the candy and cream cheese together. Let cool slightly and then add a dollop of whipped cream. To dress them up, place 1 Skittles® on top. 

Don't forget to taste just one before serving, you deserve it!

Serve the Scoops to your party guests. Make it a rule: whenever your team gets a touch down, you get to eat a SNICKERS® Scoop Mini Pie and Skittles® . Mmm... perfect with Pepsi™.

Click for more Game Day Recipes and  Snack Stadium Ideas.

Now, it's your turn to play- what is your favorite appetizer for Game Day? Share it in the comments. Don't forget to enter the Game Day Glory Sweepstakes below.

Recommended:

Easy Jalapeno Pizza Poppers


Game Day Glory Sweepstakes

Baked Tuna Salad Ring














ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)