ToyScope

Child Safety Week is 1–7 June. The theme this year is Making prevention possible. It's about small changes we can all make to prevent accidents.. and for that to happen, we need to get the right information to the right people.
So this is my contribution.
I'm running a free lunchtime CPD for therapists next week - one hour on toy safety. The tips and tricks that dont get covered in mandatory training, but really should. Age labels, cheap toys, recent asbestos recalls, different play patterns, regression in play, and much more.
The Q&A at the end isn't recorded. So bring that question.

One week from today. Wednesday 3 June, 1–2pm. Free. Online. Link in bio to register - or find it on my website.

And if you know a colleague who'd find this useful, share the info please... that's the easiest thing you can do for Child Safety Week.

Prevention sometimes feels too big, like a whole project. And in those cases, it fails. But it's about small habits and changes that make all the difference.
Child Safety Week is next week, 1-7 June, organised by CAPT. The theme this year is about making prevention possible: small changes that people can do straight away. So, definitely not another 'unique' system with a whole online course that you need to subscribe to. 😂
Child safety information tends to reach people who are already looking for it. Child Safety Week is a good moment to put it in front of people who aren't. Right?
So, I'm here today to ask you to share the CAPT resources with someone who hasn't seen them. Each day next week, they will share practical things that everyone should know to keep children safe. Let's all add some engagement to those posts.

I'm running a couple of free things on toy and play safety next week too. Details coming shortly, and I am excited to be back in live interaction with you all 💙 more about that in the next post (and in the newsletter)

📢 UK TOY RECALL ALERT: April 2026 📢
These toys have been officially recalled or removed from the UK market during the past month due to safety concerns. Each slide shows the product name, manufacturer, and specific hazard identified.
⚠️ EU recalls are tracked separately - this post specifically covers UK market recalls issued by the Office for Product Safety and Standards.
If you own any of these items:

Stop using them immediately
Follow the manufacturer's recall instructions
Keep them away from children

For complete recall details including batch numbers and return procedures, check the official links in my bio.
Please take a moment to check your toy collections at home, schools, and therapy centers. These products can sometimes remain in circulation long after recalls are issued.
SHARE this post with other parents, teachers, childcare providers, and therapists - your repost could prevent an accident!

The teddy bear exists because a US president refused to shoot a bear that had been tied to a tree.
1902. Roosevelt on a hunting trip in Mississippi. His guides, worried he'd go home empty-handed, cornered an old bear, clubbed it, and tied it to a willow tree. He refused to shoot it. Said it was unsportsmanlike. A cartoonist drew it. A candy shop owner's wife in Brooklyn saw the cartoon, sewed a stuffed bear, put it in the window and called it - Teddy's Bear. The rest is history...

In the 1950s, British paediatrician Donald Winnicott wrote about what he called the "transitional object"... a child's first comforting possession. The thing they choose, attach to, and use to manage the gap between needing the parent and being independent. When your toddler reaches for the bear instead of you, that's them practising independence. The bear is doing the bridging.

Two things worth knowing if you have a baby or a young child:
Soft toys in the cot under 12 months are a suffocation risk. Safe sleep guidance is clear on this. After one, the bear can stay.
And wash them. Soft toys are dust mite hotels. A hot wash over 60°C kills them, or you can seal the toy in a bag and freeze it for 24 hours if it can't be washed. Worth doing every few weeks, especially for children with allergies or asthma

Nobody knows the number..and I'm pretty sure the number is actually irrelevant

Some kids play beautifully eith an overflowing toy box. Others feel overwhelmed with just a few toys in front of them. The "less is more" advice is everywhere... the minimalist playrooms, the toy rotations, the capsule collections. I think it works brilliantly...for some children.. while for others, it's the wrong prescription entirely.

ADHD children often seek novelty. So for many of them, the tenth toy in the room isn't the problem. And sometimes that toy is the only thing holding their attention for more than a few minutes. If you do a rotation and it goes away, so might their engagement.
On the other side, some children collect, play that way and for them the meaning lies in the complete set. Separating a character from its series or one of the cars from its garage isn't simplifying their play. Their distress isn't from having too many toys, but from making their collection incomplete.

All that aside , the toy overwhelm is real. You can recognise it in a child who drifts without landing.. picks something up, puts it down, picks something else up, and down again, then comes to find you even though they had the whole room of toys to themselves. Their brain runs out of processing space before play had a chance to start. Iyengar and Lepper documented this in adults and jam flavour choices back in 2000. More choice, less satisfaction, faster disengagement. Children feel it sooner, and for kids already sensitive to their environment, sooner still.

Maybe "less is more" is an answer for an overwhelmed child, but not all children are overwhelmed.

What I look for now is whether a child lands in play...or just bounces around.

📢 UK TOY SAFETY RECALLS AND REPORTS: March 2026 📢
These toys have been recalled, modified or removed from the UK market during the past month due to safety concerns. Each slide shows the product name, manufacturer, and specific hazard identified.
⚠️ EU recalls are tracked separately - this post specifically covers UK market recalls issued by the Office for Product Safety and Standards.
If you own any of these items:
- Read about hazards
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions
- Keep them away from children

For complete list and details including batch numbers and return procedures, check the official links in my bio.
Please take a moment to check your toy collections at home, schools, and therapy centres. These products can sometimes remain in circulation long after recalls are issued.
SHARE this post with other parents, teachers, childcare providers, and therapists - your repost could prevent an accident!

After seeing the mountains of electronic toys in shops, I wanted to remind you all about batteries.

Skateboarding. If you grew up in the 90s, you either had one, wanted one, or knew someone who broke a bone on one. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater dropped in 1999 and suddenly every kid in the country wanted to be at a skate park. 🛹🛹🛹
Skateboarding is one of the best examples of flexible, progressive risk judgement. Beginners carry the most risk, so they get the most protection (helmets, wrist covers, knee pads). But as skills build, the risk reduces. Until a new trick enters the picture, and the risk rises again. The gear follows that curve. Fully wrapped at the start (wrists take the most hits, just so you know), then naturally simplified as confidence grows, then back on when learning something new.

Falls will happen. That's not a flaw in the plan, it IS the plan. The protective gear is not exactly like cotton wool. It's there so they can skate longer, try more, and build the skills.

skateboarding is different from the hazards I usually talk about because the risk is visible. Speed, height, the surface, the ramp are all things that a child can see, understand, and make decisions about. So, very different from maybe faulty wiring, asbestos, or a choking hazard. Those are invisible. Those are the ones that need an adult.

A child on a skateboard, gets a full developmental package: coordination, proprioception, persistence, balance, and confidence. The value we get from them falling down (not dying in the process) and getting back up is higher than the risk of getting a bruise or breaking a bone.
So, no, not a safety problem.

I'm ready for you to roast me now about how terrible it could be for a child to break a bone... just make sure you're not saying that while your knives are on the counter and acid detergents in reach.

Happy World Book Day!

Today is all about books and reading... So to share what I'm currently reading, here's Inclusive Play by Theresa Casey.

Last night I came across this line about being accepted as a player in children's activities and I really liked it. I cannot say it's my favourite quotation, since there are already 20 little bookmarks and half a book to go, but it's one for today.

So, let's think about the difference between designing/leading/controlling the play vs being invited into their authentic play. Do you get invited into play?

Did you know that a simple cardboard box is celebrated in the US National Toy Hall of Fame?
The curator simply added it to the collection and said: "It's that empty box full of possibilities that kids can sense and the adults don't always see"

Cardboard is one of the most accessible materials there is. You can find it in any supermarket for free, and children will pick it for imaginative play over more detailed toys (Burns-Nader et al.,2019). It's also a lot more ecologically acceptable than landfiller plastics. So, a real win-win-win scenario.

A quick safety note: Do check for and remove metal staples on large boxes. If you fancy levelling up, cardboard construction tools are safer than scissors and brilliant for extending play — just note they include small parts, so consider your child's developmental stage and mouthing habits.

Good play doesn't need batteries. Sometimes it just needs a box. 📦