Guides by problem
Play gear worth the shelf space, from first rattles to the fourth-birthday years.
Four bath toys picked on whether you can get water and biofilm out of them, after a study found growth inside every squeeze toy it opened.
Oct 12, 2026 · 14 min read
The hands-and-knees rule, where it came from in CPSC's crib toy files, and the four ways a crib mobile has been recalled since.
Oct 4, 2026 · 14 min read
Reese's Law, the toy standard and the 2022 magnet rule, read clause by clause: what a battery door and a magnet must pass, and where the gaps are.
Sep 26, 2026 · 13 min read
Four push-behind walkers with no seat and no wheels doing the carrying, chosen against the standard that exists because the seated kind needed one.
Sep 18, 2026 · 12 min read
WHO says none under a year and caps stroller or high-chair time at an hour. The AAP draws its line at 18 months with one exception. Both guidelines, in full.
Sep 9, 2026 · 9 min read
Five teethers judged on one-piece construction, real cleaning instructions and what a 2017 mold report actually found, not on marketing.
Sep 2, 2026 · 14 min read
The federal small parts cylinder is real, and it still missed most of the choking deaths in a 2017 recall review. What it tests, and how to check a toy at home.
Aug 25, 2026 · 11 min read
Five toys that earn their floor space across years rather than weeks, chosen against what a baby can physically do at each stage.
Aug 11, 2026 · 13 min read
Most first-year toys are bought months before they are usable. What a baby can grasp, track and manipulate at each stage, and what to buy when.
Jul 6, 2026 · 8 min read
A play mat is the most-used purchase of the first year. A walker is the one the AAP has asked to be banned outright. The difference matters.
Mar 11, 2026 · 8 min read
The best-known trial on this compared electronic toys with blocks and books, and the toys that talk came last. What the finding says, and what it does not.
Feb 2, 2026 · 8 min read
