Baby Toys

Tips for cleaner toys

Whether you have a little bit of time or a lot, here are some handy solutions for keeping your kids’ toys ready for play.

• For a quick clean

  • The first line of defense is selecting toys that are washable and avoiding, whenever possible, those that are porous, stuffed or generally difficult to clean. You might even consider staying away from bath toys with holes in them, as they are likely candidates for mold growth.
  • Scrubbing toys weekly is your safest bet, but once every other week will suffice. Clean toys according to instructions, keeping in mind that many toys can simply join your dishes in the dishwasher.
  • Disinfect washable colorfast plastic toys with a solution of ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water. Soak for 5 minutes, rinse and air dry.
  • You can also sanitize toys with hard, nonporous surfaces (or plastic toys) daily by spraying with Clorox® Anywhere® Hard Surface™ Daily Sanitizing Spray.
  • If your child has been ill, you'll want to disinfect hard plastic toys with Clorox® Regular-Bleach daily.
  • For dust mites, place stuffed toys in the freezer for at least a few hours. You can do this while your child is sleeping or playing at a friend's house.
  • To help keep bugs from breeding on tub toys, let them dry in a net or basket after the bath. Toys that trap water (that rubber ducky comes to mind) need to be cleaned regularly with a diluted [disinfecting] bleach solution, as directed, then rinsed well and left to dry.
  • Have your children use a plastic tub for the hard plastic toys they've been playing with that day. This way, you can simply pick the whole thing up and disinfect in one batch with Clorox® Clean-Up® Cleaner with Bleach as directed. Don't forget to wipe down and rinse the toys and the bin!