Top 10 Worst Toys
Just in time for the heavy-duty gift buying weeks, W.A.T.C.H. (World Against Toys Causing Harm) released its “2006 Worst Toys List”. Before you go out and spend your hard earned money, you should be informed of toys that are considered unsafe for your children. Take a look at the list below.
1. Heelys - These shoes have removable wheels and turn children’s shoes into inline skates. Potential for blunt impact, spinal and neck injuries.
2. Z launcher: turbo water balloon launcher - Can turbo launch water balloons 100 feet with direct hit accuracy. Potential for facial and choking injuries.
3. Pram decoration-blossoms - This toy has a cord that is about 23 
inches long and it has attached beads and other small cloth and wooden play items. Its targeted audience is babies! What are they thinking?!??!
4. Pyramid stacker - This stacking toy is manufactured by The Pottery Barn Kids. It contains multi-colored tiers, includes wooden parts, intended to be stacked upon a solid-wood dowel. A child who falls on the wooden dowel could be seriously injured. The toy is marketed for children as young as 12 months.
5. Bow & arrow set - Includes rubber-tipped “arrows” made of solid wood. The tips, however, are removable, and the rigid, wooden shafts can be propelled with sufficient velocity to potentially cause severe injuries.
6. Zip-Ity Do Dolly - This doll is sold at Toys R Us. One of the dolls has a red plastic button on the doll’s clothing, attached with thread, which could be ingested by oral-age children. Once detached, the button fails even the toy industry’s inadequate small parts “choke tube” standard. Another doll has a soft, plush ball attached to the zipper, which also presents a potential choking hazard.
7. Lil Snoopy - This pull toy has 
a 27 inch pull cord which could cause strangulation. It is marketed to children as young as 12 months old. My son got one for his first birthday and I immediately took it back to the store.
8. Superman Lamp - This lamp is sold in the toy department, rather than with the other lamps or electronics. Families are further instructed to “[un]plug the product when leaving the house, when retiring for the night, or if left unattended.”
9. Sky Blaster - This toy is sold as an “All In One Rocket & Launcher!” 
Potential for eye injuries.
10. Fear Factor Candy Challenge - These candy pouches contain ”spine-chilling spiders”, “mystery meat”, and a “buzzard buffet”. The candy is sold in the toy aisle, is based upon the television series which sometimes features contestants competing to eat as much as possible in the shortest time. Toy aisles should not be used to encourage food-eating competitions, which invite potential choking and ingestion injuries, particularly for young children.
There are plenty of other unsafe toys out there, which is one of the reasons that there are recalls. When shopping for toys, watch for items that have loose small parts, pieces that are easily detached, long cords, and places where a child could get stuck. Are there any particular unsafe toys that you have seen? Comment about them below.
For more information on toy safety, visit the W.A.T.C.H. website.
Tags: baby, baby_products, heelys, safety, shoes, shopping, Superman, toys, Toys-R-UsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Top 10 lists, baby products, clothes, news, odds and ends, shopping, toys
10 opinions for Top 10 Worst Toys
Kim
Nov 26, 2006 at 11:17 pm
That third toy is down-right criminal…I’m assuming parents know not to buy that thing right?
Karen
Nov 27, 2006 at 7:01 am
I certainly hope so!!! Some of these toys I could see getting and putting up for your kids to use while you’re playing with the kids. We have toys that we use only with the kids. But some of these are unreal. That Pottery Barn stacking toy and the baby blossom toy are definitely some of those. There will be people out there that will buy the stacking toy just b/c it is Pottery Barn.
We certainly need to be careful that we don’t buy toys and assume that they’re safe and tested. I’m not going to be buying any Polly Pocket for a while. I have a toddler roaming around the house.
John Lanza
Nov 27, 2006 at 8:16 am
Karen,
I came across your site via the “Frugalforlife” blog. I recently produced a super fun DVD that teaches kids 2-6 about the value of money. It’s called “The Money Mammals: Saving Money Is Fun,” and it’s been very well received. We’ve won four kids awards (including NAPPA and Kids First!) and have garnered a host of testimonials. Click the link to our site to see for yourself. I think The Money Mammals are right up your alley and would love to have your tell your audience about us. I hope to hear from you soon.
John, Creator of “The Money Mammals”
Brianne
Nov 27, 2006 at 10:09 am
It’s amazing how toy manufacturers don’t see the potential problems! But at the same time, I probably never would have thought about some of the things that could happen either… guess that’s something I’ll learn starting in February when I’ve got a little one to be on guard with!
I can just see some little boy shooting one of those arrows with the rubber tip taken off… Scary!
Meg
Nov 27, 2006 at 10:34 am
Perfect timing for this list! One of the worst toys we’ve had in our house has been the hotwheels toys- almost everything that’s not a vehicle- like this.
Parents need to talk about what works and what doesn’t so we aren’t wasting time and money. I started the other side of this list- the one parents love at GNMParents
It would be great to see lots of people commenting on both of these posts- a big help with holiday shopping.
Karen
Nov 27, 2006 at 10:52 am
Don’t worry, Brianne. You’re parental skills will kick in when that baby is born and you’ll suddenly see things as dangerous that you never would have thought of before. You’ll find yourself picking up rubberbands and little pieces of stuff off the floor, even when you’re not at home.
kellys
Nov 27, 2006 at 3:36 pm
We had some friends that got the call one day that their little girl had been shot in the chest with a dart gun. She had been over at her brother’s friend’s house and they had to rush her to the emergency room and operate immediately to save her life. The toy was not supposed to be played with in the house but there wasn’t adequate supervision and the littel girl was told to duck. She only heard her name and turned to the friend and was shot. The dart entered just below her heart and she is now doing fine. It was a very scary time.
Karen
Nov 27, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Kelly, what a horrible thing for that little girl! I’m glad she is ok now. I remember when I was little I got shot in the head by a BB gun. Thankfully, it was not at close range. My brother and I were talking about this on Thanksgiving Day.
John: Glad you found us. Thanks for stopping by.
Meg: I actually have thought about doing a list of the best toys too. We parents need to inform one another of the good and bad of products so that we won’t waste our time or money.
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