I have a stupid question

[Joannarachel]

What is with the hatering on plastic toys? I'm deeply confuzzled by it :

I do not like CHEAP toys...(ones with millions of little flimsy pieces)...or toys that are so overly mechanized or electronicized that they don't encourage creative play (like 'baby laptops' or what mayhave you), but I believe that there are some good quality plastic toys out there.

DS loves the Little People playsets for example. Actually, I love to play with them too

So can someone explain why it is that plastic toys are haterated?

[arlecchina]

I suspect it might have to do with the way plastic begins to leech out toxins after so long and so many kids chew on them?

but it could be landfill space, tendancy for commercialism, all of the above and then some...

[Joannarachel]

Ahhhh! An ecological concern! But of course

As for the chewing...I'm not so concerned. I guess I don't feel that the occasional nibble on a FP Little Person is going to cause my son to sprout a third eye.

[LolaK]

It's the leaching of phalates that are added to plastics to make them pliable. I think people take it too far though.

[punkinsmommy]

Yeah, it's the health/environmental concern. My anut and uncle are cautious with that.

And J, Chayse has a baby laptop. :

[angelpie545]

This is going to sound oh so stupid but I didn't know why everyone here was so against plastic toys either but that makes total sense. I stand enlightened!

[frontierpsych]

I've heard about the concerns, but there's only a limited number of things I can concern myself with and maintain my sanity, and this is not one of them. I like classic toys, some plastic, some not (ie: blocks, balls, puzzles, that stick with the colored rings that go around it, and for a noise maker maybe a baby xylophone)

[CalebsMama05]

Originally Posted by angelpie545

This is going to sound oh so stupid but I didn't know why everyone here was so against plastic toys either but that makes total sense. I stand enlightened!

same here

[boongirl]

Originally Posted by LolaK

It's the leaching of phalates that are added to plastics to make them pliable. I think people take it too far though.

That is from soft plastics. Phthalates make the plastic pliable. That is why babies chewing on plastic toys is a no no; there are baby teething toys and bath toys that are really pliable and probably have phthalates. I just threw out a bunch of soft plastic bath whales that dd got this summer as a freebie with a kid's meal at a local burger/sandwich joint. She had 4 and I finally realized that they should not be in warm water as they would leach faster! Also microwaving plastics softens it and leaches out all sorts of toxins.

But hard plastics are all right. At least they are not going to leach phthalates into your child's body. They are not good for the environment in some ways. But, if you repurpose them or hand them down, then you are at least letting them be used for as long as they can. We love legos and little people and I've bought some new and some at thrift stores. I really cannot imagine a childhood without legos.

A lot of mamas also aspire to Waldorf practices which advocates natural materials. You can read more about the in the Waldorf forum.

[MelMel]

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Oce...cificNov03.htm

[flyingspaghettimama]

Dude, all I know is that I NEVER wanna live in a world without Lego.

I like Little People too - but we collect the Old School LP. http://home.comcast.net/~pyrd/Older_...s/image002.jpg

However, the plastic "Mystery Jel" teething rings sold at your local CVS? Bah.

[Joannarachel]

Originally Posted by punkinsmommy

Yeah, it's the health/environmental concern. My anut and uncle are cautious with that.

And J, Chayse has a baby laptop. :

ROFL...SO DOES M! My mother bought it for him

[Shaunam]

Aside from the reasons already posted, I really prefer classic toys for my son because they require him to use his imagination more and they capture his attention much longer. And all the classics you can usually find in wooden form, so that's what I get. Plus, it seems like 95% of the plastic toys out there need batteries and light up and make noise. There are even shape-sorters and ring stackers that take batteries. Weren't the original designs good enough? Ugh. I hate them. My son doesn't really care for them either.

I'm not against little people, play laptops, or battery-operated toys completely, but my goodness, it's gotten out of control in this country. We have a butt-load of those toys mostly from friends and family, but they are hidden in my sewing room until I can get rid of them, and I let DS have ONE at a time in his room. Right now, he has an elmo guitar. He really only plays with it when he accidently steps on it and it makes noise and gets his attention. But he plays with it for 2 minutes and moves on. Just watching my neice and my son play with an assortment of toys, I can tell what's really fun for them and what is just mezmorizing for a moment. The plastic electronic stuff doesn't do anything for them but grab their attention for a split second. But they'll stack blocks for 30 minutes.

Anyways I'm rambling. I'm not completely against those types of toys, I just feel if you can buy a more natural, not-so-flashy version of the popular toy, why not? Kids don't need every single toy to *do* something ya know?

We're also lego fans. My parents wouldn't buy legos when I was a kid and it was always that forbidden toy that I always wanted sooo badly. Ds is to little for regular legos, but we have a huge set of mega blocks with a dump truck. He plays with them every. single. day. I'm always picking those darn things up. Which is why my parents refused to buy them. Thank goodness I can get over that.

[majikfaerie]

Originally Posted by Shaunam

she really feels this stuff is necessary for her DD's brain to be properly stimulated. : And I'm thinking, "Is this what most Americans think? That these toys are going to stimulate their brains and make them smarter or better somehow?"

YES! that is exactly what a load of people think! : :

When my dd was born, so many family members sent us these "educational" toys, with bright plastic light-up jingly noise-making stuff. I was all "no, she doesnt need this stuff" : and my MIL said "this toy is really good, because it has XYZ features that teach her hand-eye co-ordination" She really thought that without these special learning toys my dd wouldnt be able to learn such skills :
Then again, this is the same woman who really thought that if I dont start dd on solids at 3 or 4 months, then she will never learn to eat a variety of foods, and if she doesnt go to kindergarted from age 18 months then she will never learn to play with other children or have a routine

[guestmama9911]

I believe some hard plastics are also a concern, if they are made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride). According to this article by Greenpeace:

In fact, this commonplace plastic is one of the most toxic substances saturating our planet and its inhabitants. PVC contaminates humans and the environment throughout its lifecycle: during its production, use, and disposal. Few consumers realize that PVC is the single most environmentally damaging of all plastics. Since safer alternatives are available for virtually all uses of PVC, it is possible to protect human health and the environment by replacing and eventually phasing out this poison plastic.

PVC does contain Phthalates, as mentioned previously, which can build up in body tissues and has been shown in tests to cause infertility and damage the lungs and liver. Some PVC products also contain lead, which cumulates and damages the nervous system. PVC also may contain trace amounts of Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM), which causes the most problems in the factory workers who are around the production of plastic items containing PVC.

PVC can be found in both hard and soft plastics. It is used in the plastic wrap around cheese and meat, in our cars, tiles, water and sewer pipes, among other things. And, it is frequently found in toys.

There are toy companies, such as Spielstabil, that make PVC-free plastic toys.

[punkinsmommy]

Originally Posted by Joannarachel

ROFL...SO DOES M! My mother bought it for him

[Yooper]

In general. I am not a fan for plastic toys but probably about 1/3 of dd's toys are plastic. The chemical leaching is just one of my concerns. I do not like the environmental impact, how easily they break, that they usually cannot be passed down to future generations since they break-down, they are flimsy, etc..... But mostly, I have a very hard time when my living space is cluttered with garish things. We have a small house and all of dd's toys are in our living room. I prefer to have a more classic look to the clutter and I CAN NOT HANDLE noisy toys.

That said.....we do have a lot of legos (the bigger kind) and a few little people. We have a lot more of the older little people which dd plays with a lot more. The newer ones have playsets that the people are suppose to go into, but they are harder for little hands. The older sets have all sorts of fun things that are easy to get the people in and out of (airplanes, bus, cars, etc.....). In fact, I am pretty close to shipping off all of her newer little people since she never ever plays with them. But even the older LP come with a lot of plastic accessories. Ours are all from dh's childhood so at least we are "recycling". We are not purists.....especially since we do not buy any of dd's toys (I can count on one hand the times I bought playthings for her). The relatives keep her stocked with enough toys for 5 kids so it is not like I have complete control. But luckily they all think I am a crazy nutcase that will burn anything that requires batteries so they stick to pretty classic toys.

[maya44]

Really great, couldn't live without them plastic toys:

Plastic stacking cups. Sure there are wooden ones. But those can't be used to fill with water in the tub or bubble solution or lip balm creations.

Legos. I don't think that blocks can do the same "work" as legos. The connectivity of Legos made for literally hundreds of hours of play for my dd's over the years.


Cranium games and other plastic card games. Very creative, very fun, You COULD, I guess make your own, but it would be so much work I am not sure it would be worth it.

[flyingspaghettimama]

Yeah yeah, we love cranium games too.

[teachma]

Originally Posted by flyingspaghettimama

I like Little People too - but we collect the Old School LP. http://home.comcast.net/~pyrd/Older_...s/image002.jpg

OMG is that what those are? I had millions when I was little, and I'm sure I could still find some in my parents' basement...
DD also loves Little People. She gives 'em all rhyming names, lines them up and makes crazy pretend situations. We rarely use the play sets they came with.

Another plastic toy we are waaaay into are the Fisher Price Snap-N-Style dolls, llike those Polly Pockets but chunkier for toddler hands to manipulate. DD is obsessed and I love to watch her play with them! But we don't do noisy plastic toys, or plastic teething things.