Baby Toys

Baby toys by the stage they are made for:

the first ones are for holding more than playing. A rattle or a teether is sized for a small fist and made to be chewed; soft toys and cloth books come next. For time spent on the back comes the play gym, a padded mat under an arch of hanging toys, often with a piano at the feet to kick. Sitting up brings stacking cups, shape sorters and toys that light up when pressed; first steps bring push-along carts and pull toys. Bath toys belong with the tub in baby care, and a crib mobile with nursery decor.

The age on the box and the toilet-roll test:

both answer the same question, whether any part of a toy can end up in a baby’s throat. The age on imported packaging is the maker’s call on small parts, so respect it however simple the toy looks. Without the box, try the toy and anything that could come loose in an empty toilet-paper tube: if it slides through, it is too small. Embroidered eyes beat glued ones. On electronic toys, a battery cover held shut by a screw matters more than any feature, and a volume switch matters more than you would think at dawn.

Totonicapán wood and the gourd chinchín:

Guatemala’s own toy tradition is wooden, much of it from the workshops of Totonicapán and painted in strong colours. It suits a toddler who pushes and stacks; for a teething baby, take one only if the wood is bare or the maker can tell you the paint is non-toxic. The chinchín, a dried calabash gourd filled with seeds and painted black or in bright colours, is made for the Christmas processions and for dances. Hung in a nursery it looks lovely, but a cracked one spills its seeds, so keep it out of a crawler’s reach.

A musical play gym, bought new or second time round:

the piano gym is the one baby toy that costs real money, and a well-known US label’s version runs around Q600 to Q800 new. A used one in good order, every hanging toy present and the mat washed, goes for around Q200, usually without batteries. A baby only spends a few months under the arch before rolling and crawling take them off the mat, so the plastic is rarely worn out; what holds the price down is that nobody can check the electronics until power goes in.

Inside a squeeze toy and behind a battery lid:

squeeze a rubber duck, or any toy with a hole in it, over a white sink. Dark water or black flecks mean mould has grown inside, and it does not wash out. Open every battery cover, because batteries left in a toy while it waits in a cupboard for the next baby leak, and the white or green crust on the contacts can kill it for good. Run a fingernail over teethers and rattles for cracks and deep bite marks where a piece could break away, and press soft toys along the seams. Before driving across town for anything bigger, search the brand and model for a recall.

Boxed duplicates from Día del Niño and the toys a baby has moved past:

a baby shower or Día del Niño often brings the same rattle set or activity cube twice, and a duplicate still sealed is the easiest toy to pass on, so photograph the unopened box with the age label in view. Wash used toys first and photograph them in daylight with batteries in and lights on, so a buyer sees the electronics working. A lone rattle rarely gets anyone out of the house, so group small toys by stage and count the pieces of any set. A parent coming in from Quetzaltenango for a play gym will want to hear the piano before paying, so hand it over with the batteries still in.