by Melissa Crossley

Created on: August 13, 2009

How to safely clean your children's toys:

With the threat of Swine Flu and the regular flu, as well as getting your children ready to spend most of their days with other children, it's important that parents learn the proper ways to clean and disinfect toys to help prevent the spread of germs.

Cleaning and Disinfecting with Chemicals:

Some parents make the mistake of just spraying down their kids' toys with a harsh chemical and then not properly rinsing them off. This can be hazardous to your child's health in a number of ways, and can also damage the toy itself. The first step, if you are determined to use a chemical, is to read the directions on the bottle itself. Don't assume you know how to use it. For example, Clorox users: Clorox has an actual product that was made specifically to clean children's toys and it's called "Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Daily Sanitizing Spray". To use this product, it says to spray the toys to be cleaned, and then wipe thoroughly with a wet cloth to rinse. It kills up to 99% of common household bacteria and leaves no residue (but be sure to follow all directions given on the bottle).

To disinfect the toys, you can use Clorox Regular Bleach. To use this product, you wipe the toys off with water, and then soak in a solution of 3/4ths cups of bleach per gallon of water for five minutes. Rinse the toys well and then let air dry.

There is also another way to clean and disinfect toys without spending any money at all, and that is by boiling them in water. It's simple and can be done in two ways. On the stove: Use a big pot and add water. Let the water come to a boil and then place toys in the pot. Leave boiling for three to six minutes; watch toys carefully so they do not melt. Or you can use the dishwasher. Some people don't believe that the dishwasher gets hot enough to do much good, but the fact is that as long as water reaches a temperature of at least 120 degrees that it will do the same thing as using chemicals.

You will want to be diligent with cleaning your child's toys, especially if they have been sick recently. You will want to clean the toys they play with the most on a daily basis, until they feel better, to help prevent spreading the sickness to other members of your family.

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