Soft toys to this day remain very popular with modern children. Despite the fact that our kids are surrounded by various multimedia gadgets, their interest in soft toys remains unchanged and they still carry their favorite teddy bear to bed, and not a phone or computer. It should be rightly noted that it is extremely important to choose a soft toy competently since this is primarily for the health of your child.
1. Security
The materials from which the toy is made must not have allergenic and toxic properties. The safety of a toy can be confirmed by a certificate that all manufacturers of children’s goods must receive. The document guarantees the absence of harmful impurities and dyes in the toy, its durability, in other words, compliance with GOST.
Each buyer is able to independently determine the safety of the toy:
- The color of the fur of the toy must be uniform
- There should be no unpleasant or pungent odor
- There should be a minimum of decorative elements, and they should be firmly fixed to the skin (not glued).
2. Strength of the skin and seams
Children’s toys must be durable. One of the most common problem areas is the eyes of soft toys. A small child can easily tear off small parts (especially if they are just glued or poorly fastened) and stuff them into their nose, or ears, or even swallow them.
Be sure to check the seams. The toy should not have holes and “technological” holes. The seams should not be glued, the presence of glue can be checked by pinching the seam of the toy between your fingers and rubbing it. You will feel something solid in the seam – this is dried glue. Its use is due to the low quality of the skin.
3. Quality of stuffing
A child plays with a soft toy for more than one day, and it is not difficult to predict that over time the stuffing inside the plush toy will “break down”. Therefore, when buying, be sure to pay attention to how the toy is stuffed.
Weakly stuffed paws and a hanging head give the toy a dull and sad look. The toy, of course, should not be as hard as a stone, but it should be uniform and dense. Otherwise, this suggests that the seller saved.
4. Cost
Each of us likes to save money, and a careful attitude towards finances is very good and important. However, let’s think about what could be the reason for the low cost of the toy.
Anyone who is at least superficially familiar with pricing understands perfectly well how a seller can reduce the cost of a toy. We will talk specifically about retailers because you most likely will not have to deal directly with a manufacturer who sells wholesale.
We draw attention to an important nuance that not all buyers know about: toys are stuffed by sellers in most cases on their own, as this reduces transportation costs, so they are ordered from the manufacturer in skins. The skin is a ready-made toy without stuffing, 98% stitched, with a hole for stuffing. After the toy is stuffed, the hole is sewn up by hand.
Most often, sellers reduce costs in 4 main ways:
- They buy cheap semi-finished toys. The quality of such semi-finished products leaves much to be desired, in most cases, they do not have quality certificates. Bright representatives of this category are skins from Chinese sites.
- Stuffing toys is not tight. Packing savings are the most common way to reduce costs. The lack of stuffing is easy to see with the naked eye, the toy looks like “from a hanger”, the head is most often lowered down, and the toy does not hold in a sitting position. It is worth noting that the larger the toy, the more the cost of a decent and dishonest seller can vary.
- Use cheap stuffing. The material that toys should be stuffed with is called holo fiber. It is a material resembling dense cotton wool, hypoallergenic and safe. This is the most expensive stuffing material, so not everyone uses it. To reduce the cost of toys, skin scraps, foam rubber, and substandard cheap stuffing materials are used, which are sold by stuffing manufacturers at a bargain price. The choice is yours, do you need such a discount?
- Do not spend on the packaging. Agree – why spend money on it when you cannot do it? However, in the package, it is much easier to keep the cleanliness and integrity of the toy during transportation.
Be sure to pay attention to these nuances, respect yourself and buy only high-quality toys that will delight you and your children for many years.
5. Dimensions
The size should be chosen based on the purpose of purchasing the toy. A child will not take a one-and-a-half meter toy with him to bed or visit his grandmother, but on the other hand, it is convenient to lie, and sit on such a toy, it is pleasant to cuddle with her. Very small babies crawl around a large toy for a long time, carefully study it, hide behind it, and often fall asleep on it.
The advice is simple: start with your goals.
6. Realistic appearance
It is worth paying attention to the fact that the toy looks like the animal it represents, that is, it must correspond to reality like grinch plush. You should not buy a bear that looks like it is not clear what, have disproportionate body parts (there are a lot of toys on the market with long legs, for example) and have inadequate colors. This can be misleading for a small child who is just getting to know the world.
