Children play with their toys everywhere: in the house, in the pool, the bathtub and in raw dirt. What’s a parent to do? Kids need to experience life and playing in these environments is an important part of that. It’s fun, it’s educational and it’s normal.

As a parent, you must not prevent your kid from getting dirty, but instead just make sure that it’s safe and that the toys don’t carry any potentially dangerous germs.

Here are a few tips for keeping your child’s toys clean and safe:

And that’s pretty much all there is to it. Keeping your kid in a safe environment is a key to a happy childhood, but don’t get overboard with it. Kids need to experience life and getting in contact with dirt thoughens their immune system.

Engaging The Young Minds

As most parents would agree, young children can be quite a handful. It often proves to be quite a task keeping them engaged for long hours at a stretch. A lot of companies have come up with numerous toys that not only attract the attention of the kids, but also eggs them on to discover new things and learn in the process.

Educational toys are a particular favorite of parents as they come as the perfect foil to keep the kids busy and educate them at the same time. A wide range of quality educational toys are available for children as young as 3 months. These toys are not only fun, but can also be quite unique. Here are some suggestions that might help you choose from the different educational toys available in the market.

Wooden Toys

These are popular with parents not only because they are cheap and safe, but also because they are durable and of good quality. Plus, they break the monotony of electronic and plastic toys. There are numerous options like wooden puzzles, bead sequencing sets, jigsaws, and buildings. Children distinguish the various shapes and colors, and may even learn their first alphabets and numericals from these games. Besides, a child will also develop hand-eye coordination, and problem solving skills.

Activity Kits

These include craft kits, organic stuffed animals, block games, memory games, and also cars. Such games are ideal for the more active kids as they require active participation. Construction toys and memory games help build the child’s imagination, strengthen the memory, and also teach him/ her social skills like participation and involvement.

Books and Electronic Games

Storybooks, drawing books, and music CDs are found to leave a deep impact on young fertile minds. They are designed to stimulate the child’s senses and curiosity, and help develop their thought processes. There are some unique options like “Baby Shakespeare Find-And-Rhyme” and “Baby Bach Touch ‘N Play Pipes” that incite the child to explore art, poetry, language, and music. There are also several preprogrammed educational games for the slightly older children that can be played by simply plugging it to the T.V. These games are often designed so as to promote math, logic and spelling skills.

Cartoons and Video Games

A lot of companies like the Warner Bros. produce toys and video games with the popular cartoon characters. These are a particular favorite with children as the characters are familiar and they can identify with them. Plus, these toys give them the freedom of acting out their fantasies and letting their imaginations run wild.

While choosing a toy, it is necessary to keep in mind the child’s age and learning level. The right kind of toy can be the perfect teacher in developing and nurturing the kid’s intellect.

Aside from these, “Electronics and the Internet. That’s what kids are obsessed about today,” said Jim Silver, editor and co-publisher of Toy Wishes magazine. “They have an iPod, they are on Facebook and some are e-mailing by age five.”

1. Web Connected Toys

IToysWe all know and love Webkinz, the pioneer of the “virtual toy” revolution. Webkinz is still doing very well and now has been joined by several other toy manufacturers. Russ’s Shining Stars, TY Girlz, Barbie and now even TY’s Beanie Babies. Aside from dolls and plush toys, there’s a brand new preschool game which nicely incorporates play and technology. It’s called Me2 from IToys. Also worth noting is Clickables, a wonderful line of toys from Technosource. Clickables integrates the virtual world of Disney Fairies with toys for girls. There are a lot of other web connected toys and dolls. My collegue, the Doll Collecting guide, has a great article up on the virtual doll trend.

2. Dinosaur Toys Dinosaurs have been around for a while now, (remember the very recent Pleo?), but they certainly made their presence felt at the Toy Fair! Here is one dinosaur which was hard to miss – Kota the Triceratops from Playskool. This friendly creature is pretty tall at approximately 40 feet and is equipped with sensors, which when activated, make him move his head, tail and horns. Kids will enjoy sitting on this playful (and very pricey) creature. Another dino in the spotlight comes to use from Mattel. D-Rex, a remote controlled dinosaur with a lot of different sounds and realistic motions aims to fascinate kids this year.

3. Indiana Jones Toys

HasbroIndiana Jones is really something to look forward to this year. The movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is slated to be one of the hot movies of 2008. It’s no wonder then, that Lego, Hasbro and the rest have jumped onto Indy’s bandwagon! The plot of the movie isn’t yet revealed fully. Still, Lego had some wonderful sets based on Indiana Jones. The Indiana Jones LEGO sets include Indiana Jones Temple Escape, Indiana Jones Race for the Stolen Treasure, Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb and Indiana Jones Motorcycle Chase. Some of Hasbro’s Indiana Jones offerings include Mr Potato Head: Taters of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones Sound FX Whip and of course Indiana Jones action figures.

4. Science and Nature Related Toys

Jakks PacificI noticed a large variety of Science Kits and nature themed toys at this year’s Toy Fair. Elmers (the glue company) had some really cool science kits represented by Bill Nye, the science guy. Scientific Explorer had a lot of fun kits to offer where kids can experiment with fascinating stuff like bubbles, perfumes, volcanoes and more. The biggie in the science category is none other than EyeClops from Jakks Pacific, which has updated versions(read night vision and higher magnification) available. Also, Uncle Milton of the Ant Farm fame had some cool Indiana Jones based products to show.

5. Batman – The Dark Knight Toys

MattelThe new Batman movie, The Dark Knight is slated to be released later this year. Mattel has a host of Batman related toys and action figures up their sleeve. The Stealth Batmobile and the Wayne Tech Tri Fire Blaster are must haves. Apart from those two, there are a lot of pretend play options and Batman action figures from Mattel. Lego also has some great Batman themed construction sets for release this year.

6. Speed Racer Toys

MattelSpeed Racer is another big movie franchise on which Mattel has a great lineup of toys. I know that Hot Wheels has a Morph Mach 6 vehicle and an interactive helmet to offer as well as the Speed Racer Sky Jump Track Set among other toy vehicles. The movie should spark off a craze for racing and toy cars which is going to be huge. Lego also had some great Speed Racer kits on display at Toy Fair. Personally, I think this is THE franchise to watch out for.

7. Animated Toys/Robots

Fisher-PriceOk, so by now everyone must have heard of Elmo Live, right? Well, the animated toy trend seems to be very prevalent this year with Elmo Live, Hasbro’s Biscuit, Playskool’s Kota the Triceratops, Tomy’s ISobot and more. While I’m on the topic, let me mention that I just previewed an adorable duckling from Hasbro’s Furreal Friends line – it’s too cute for words. Just like me, it seems like everyone enjoys seeing animated animals nowadays!

8. Iron Man Toys

HasbroHasbro has a fantastic line of action figures based on the Iron Man. This is another movie franchise for this year which is going to be popular with Marvel fans.

9. Green Toys

It’s no wonder that everyone is focusing on healthy and safe play this year. The “green” theme is predominant with many toy firms promoting their eco-friendly products. One toy manufacturer which I really liked was Plan toys from Indonesia which had a wonderful lineup of natural wooden toys. There were some toys made out of recycled milk bottles from a company called Green Toys. They had tea sets, gardening sets and beach sand sets on display which looked very appealing. I also noticed the Kapla line of wooden construction planks which falls into the “green” category as well. 12. Classic Toys – Lots of Anniversaries!

10. The Incredible Hulk Toys

HasbroThe Hulk was at a lot of places at Toy Fair 2008. I specially loved the Kid Designs line of Hulk laptops and learning toys. Hasbro has a fantastic lineup of Hulk toys including the much awaited Hulk Smash Hands, a plush animated Hulk toy, conventional Hulk action figures, a Hulk power glow electronic mask, a Hulk dart blaster and much more. Looks like “green” is popular in more ways than one!

11. Musical Toys

KID Designs For the last couple of years, toys based on musical instruments have really grown in popularity. Remember Piano Wizard, Piano Made Easy, I Can Play Guitar, Guitar Hero and the other toys on similar lines? This, along with musical toys based on celebrities like Hannah Montana and hit TV shows like American Idol practically dominated the musical toy scene. This year, the trend continues with some more Hannah Montana toys, new DVD games based on American Idol (KIDDesigns has an awesome American Idol DVD game) and much more. Stay tuned. (pun not intended)

12. Keyboard for toddlers, Wallcrawler Spiderman

The portable DVD player is made to withstand a kid’s abuse. It features a 3.2-inch color TFT screen, rechargeable batteries with a two-hour lifespan, an anti-skip buffer, grip handles and a stand for hands-free viewing. The player, which plays DVDs and CDs, comes with a battery charger and wall power unit, a video output jack, and a headphone jack.

13. Wall Crawler Spider-Man

“Wall Crawler Spider-Man” is a standout innovation from Hasbro. The remote-controlled Spider-Man toy, which incorporates vacuum-pump technology, actually crawls ups and down walls.

Last, but not the least, classic toys are very much in the forefront. This year, many classics were celebrating their anniversaries. Hasbro’s My Little Pony celebrated their 25th anniversary with a lovely birthday party at the Hasbro showroom, complete with a cake cutting! Cabbage Patch Kids celebrates it’s 25th anniversary as well. The LEGO brick celebrates its 50th anniversary with a commemorative gold brick. Other brands celebrating this year include Scholastic’s Clifford, the big red dog, the Toy Company’s Wham-O and Mary Meyer (who is turning 75 this year). We’ll wind up with congratulating Hasbro’s Mr Potato Head who is turning 80 this year. Way to go!

Many parents turned to alternatives, looking for made in America, US based products as well as other companies who took only pride in their work but more importantly the children. Wooden toys became highly popular among parents, knowing that their children would be safe playing with these products. One such example is the wooden play food sets.

Most often than not, these wooden food sets are for little children who usually spend time at home, pre-school or school- these are even found in some of the play areas of Children’s museums. They allow children to emulate their parents shopping in grocery stores. Walk into any of these convenience stores or supermarkets and you will be sure to find the plastic play food set. One can observe on any given day a little girl completely fascinated with the food set, her mind and imagination already hard at work about the tea party she will have at home. The price can also win over parents; they are usually priced at or under $10.00

However, the plastic used in the molding of the various fruits and vegetables can soon wear out quite rapidly. Adding to the mass production of these plastic sets, combined with it being made of low quality, parents find themselves buying many of these in over a year’s time. Finally with most parents nowadays being very environment conscious and more children getting involved with recycling, switching to products like wooden play food sets are a great idea.

That’s why wooden play food sets are a great choice for young children! Sturdier and made to last, especially with how rough and tumble children can be during play. The wooden play food set will definitely handle being flung from the toybox, rolled around the backyard on the ground or banged up against the wall or the table.

The most important thing to you as the consumer is, what will work for your children. Ask yourself questions the next time you are in the toy store or searching sites online such as www.funsets.com for wooden play food sets, before buying: will my child enjoy this product? How will it fit in with his or her mode of play? Is this from a reputable company that I would not hesitate telling other parents or family members about?Happy Shopping!