How To Care For Your Wooden Baby Toys
So you've purchased a product from Poppyseed Play... CONGRATS and THANK YOU! We are certain that your baby will love their new toy, and that you'll love how it looks in your home. But how do you take care of your wooden toys? As moms, we're always looking for non-toxic but effective ways to get rid of germs and keep our babies safe and healthy, especially during a pandemic! So today we're going to show you how to disinfect your baby toys from Poppyseed Play, and make sure that your baby is staying safe while playing!
Vinegar & Warm Water
This is my favorite option for cleaning wooden baby toys because vinegar is very safe! Vinegar goes in food and toys usually end up going in babies mouths so I feel comfortable using plain old water and vinegar to clean them! All you need is warm water and vinegar (I use a 2 parts water, 1 part vinegar ratio), and a wash cloth. If the smell of vinegar bothers you, feel free to put a couple drops of essential oils in this mix to help ease the smell. However, I usually find that the smell goes away within a day or so! Once you have your water and vinegar mixture, use the rag to soak up some of the liquid and use the rag to clean the toys.
Other Solution Options
If you don't have vinegar on hand, you can use a variety of different solutions that are non-toxic to clean your babies toys. Some options include mild dish soap (I like blue Dawn the best), Apple Cider Vinegar, Dr. Bronner's Castile or Sal Suds Cleaner, Mrs. Meyers Everyday Cleaner, or Branch Basics Concentrate. I always dilute any of these options with water just to make sure it's not too harsh for the toys or baby!
Never Soak or Immerse
Since Poppyseed Play toys are wooden, we don't ever recommend soaking or immersing your toys in water. This is because wood is porous so the water soaking into the pores can make the wood expand, warp, or even crack.
Drying Your Wooden Toys
I always air dry my toys, and I'll sometimes put them in the sun. The sun speeds up the drying process and is a natural way to kill germs. Just keep in mind that the sun can change the color of your wood if exposed for too long, so I recommend keeping an eye on your toys!
Wood Toys Are Better Than Plastic
There are many reasons that wooden toys are better than plastic, but my favorite reason is that wood actually has antibacterial properties and germs last less time on wood than plastic! So though they might seem harder to clean, they're still a much better option than plastic which is why we choose wood at Poppyseed Play!
We hope that this post helps you keep your babies safe and health and keep the germs off your toys! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to us through email or on Instagram!
