How Wooden Fruit and Vegetable Cutting Set with Magnets Can be Choking Hazard for Toddlers?

The Office for Product Safety & Standards Magnetic Toy U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

By Camille Hutchison , Parent Herald Nov 06, 10:48 am

The Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) recalls notice to products that present a high risk of choking such as wooden orange, apple, and strawberry produced in small parts after abuse testing which fits into a small parts cylinder that can be sold via Wish. The OPSS says that a young child may put such small parts in its mouth and parents may not immediately notice time as a result, the small part of the toy can block the child's airway which can cause death. Also, according to Gov.UK, the product does not meet the requirements of the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011.

The product sold via Wish was a green plastic basket with a white handle, a wooden chopping board, and two knives. Such item is accompanied by eighteen painted food items in two or three halves. In total, the item has thirty-eight magnets. Although magnetic toys are designed for kids as they can provide a fun and educational experience. However, loose magnets and high-powered magnet set such as kitchen toy cut vegetable fruit toy can cause severe injuries in young ones if they are swallowed.

Moreover, high-powered or rare-earth magnets are more powerful than other types of magnets. Magnets can cause massive damage to a child, particularly to the child's gastrointestinal tract (GI) as they can twist the intestines and can cause bowel ulcerations, intestinal damage, perforations, blood poisoning, and even death.

Magnet play increases fine motor development

Playing with magnetic building toys is one of the fun things to do with toddlers as it introduces not only particular principles but also increases fine motor development and coordination. It also appears to be open-ended and versatile as magnetic toys for kids spark imagination and creativity. Such is particularly evident when playing a matching game. For instance, when a child is given a task to solve such as recreating a face or attempting to establish a structure, they will learn from cause and effect.

On the other hand, cognitive skill development. For parents and adults, a magnet might appear as a circle, hence, for the child, it may look like something else like a lion's head roaring at certain animals or perhaps a ball that is being thrown in the backyard.

Anything is possible when you develop your creativity. It also stimulates visual memory as the young one grasps and moves the magnets around. Such a form of play can encourage a child to talk and eventually develop language skills by parents asking or talking to their child when playing, per Clever Stuff.

Major swelling and even life-threatening injuries

Magnetic toys are not suitable for girls and boys below the age of three. Hence, for older kids, parents must ensure that they do not put such magnets in their mouths to prevent any cause of the accident.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has confirmed the death of a 20-month-old and at least 19 other small children being severely injured and requiring surgery. CPSC reminds parents to always look after their children especially when playing as some toys can be dangerous for toddlers.

CPSC added that there is also an increase in the number of accidents being reported due to high-powered magnets being swallowed by a kid, WebMD says.