By Michele Chan Santos

As a mother of two children and a friend of many mothers with younger kids, I frequently buy presents for baby showers, children’s birthday parties and for my own sons.

The onslaught of headlines about lead poisoning in children’s toys – some of our beloved Thomas the Tank engines, Dora the Explorer, Elmo and Cars toys have been recalled because of lead paint – has made me question the safety of every toy I’m buying. I’m especially worried about plastic ones made in China.

The most recent news was about another massive recall of toys by Mattel on Sept. 5. Again, lead paint is the culprit, and among the 800,000 recalled toys are accessories for Barbie toys that were sold between August 2006 and August of this year.

Buying toys online can seem risky, especially in a time of so many recalls. But there’s no reason to shy away from purchasing toys online as long as you follow a few basic precautions. Nychelle Fleming, a spokesperson for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington D.C., suggested avoiding any product with small parts for children under 3 – picking a doll instead of a tea set, for example, or a large stuffed bear instead of a miniature castle with tiny parts. “Choking is still the leading cause of toy-related death in young children,” Fleming said.

She suggested that parents check the recall lists at www.cpsc.gov before buying any toys, particularly used toys from sites such as Ebay or craigslist. Parents can sign up to get automatic emails every time a new toy is recalled. The safety commission also offers a variety of publications on toy safety

“We really recommend checking all the lists before you shop,” Fleming said

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When the gift is for an infant it’s particularly challenging – older children can generally be trusted not to chew on their toys, but babies like to mouth everything handed to them.

Sara Poirier, the mother of a 3-year-old boy, is worried too.

The news about the lead poisons in toys, and about the small magnets in other toys which pose a choking risk, “is just really scary,” she said. Her son’s birthday is coming up, but it seems more and more challenging to make sure the toys he plays with are safe.

“Where do I start?” said Poirier, who lives in Austin. “I just feel overwhelmed.”

For now, Poirier’s son plays with lots of household items – forts made out of tables and blankets—and with big cardboard boxes. He also stays busy with toy cars, puzzles, Legos and wooden blocks.

This concern has prompted me to turn to more traditional items as gifts – organic cotton blankets or onesies for babies, wooden toys for toddlers and books for older children.

Online shopping offers a host of options for people interested in buying something other than the latest Transformers or Bratz plastic toys. If you’re looking for charming, classic wooden toys, check out www.willowtreetoys.com and www.gummylump.com.

Willow Tree’s “Made in USA” section offers a selection of wooden trucks, doll beds, fire engines, and yarn and cloth dolls and puppets. Six wooden painted trucks in their own storage box costs $17.96; a more elaborate wooden bulldozer is $75, and a wooden dollhouse car is $21.

The Gummy Lump site carries toys made by the Connecticut company Melissa & Doug. These sturdy wooden and cardboard puzzles and blocks are popular with many parents.

A simple 60-piece wooden block set, which normally costs $54.95, is currently priced at $46.71 at Gummy Lump. Less expensive options include wooden pizza play food and birthday cake play food, for $19.95 each, or a fold-and-go dollhouse for $42.46.

The giant cardboard building blocks and giant castle blocks offered at www.imagiplay.com are huge hits at my sons’ preschool. These sturdy painted cardboard blocks, made to look like city buildings, parts of a castle or bricks, are great for groups of small children. A 24-piece set is $31.99; a 40-piece set is $39.99. All of the company’s products are tested to make sure they meet or exceed U.S. safety standards, the company says.

A perfect present for babies with environmentally minded parents are the organic cotton toys made by miYim. You can order these at www.babycenter.com, and learn about them at www.miyim.com.

These stuffed animals are soft and cute, with gentle expressions on their faces. The toys are dyed using a chemical-free process, the company says. Their “Storybook Plush” collection, consisting of a stuffed bear, rabbit and monkey, retails for $25.

Another good source for organic cotton toys is www.underthenile.com, which offers toys made from organic Egyptian cotton. Various adorable stuffed vegetables – a soft cotton head of broccoli with a painted-on face, a soft cotton bunch of toy grapes – are available here, as are dolls of various ethnicities, from $6 to $14.

For older children, books make good presents. Although the kids sometimes look stunned when they open them (it’s usually the only book gift on a table with a bunch of plastic toys), I’ve heard many grateful comments from their parents afterwards. One mom said she never thought her son would spend that much time with a book, and another said they’d been reading my gift together every night. Also, you don’t have to worry about getting lead poisoning from reading a book.

One book I’ve given several times is Life-Size Sharks and Underwater Creatures, by Daniel Gilpin and Martin Knowelden (Sterling Publishing, 2005). This book is best for children 7 and older, and has full-color, life-size illustrations of ocean animals from polar fish to a hammerhead shark (its head forms a fold-out poster.) It’s available on www.amazon.com for $9.95. In the same series, Life-Size Dragons, by John Grant, offers tales of beautiful imaginary creatures, accompanied by stunning illustrations from Fred Gambino.

Michele Chan Santos is a freelance writer who has written about health, lifestyle trends, personal finance, real estate and architecture for more than 10 years. She has written for MSN.com, The Dallas Morning News, The Austin-American Statesman and Catholic News Service.

Copyright © 2007 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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