Determining Age Appropriateness of Children's Products and Toys

Background: Play during childhood is an important part of healthy development, and children can learn many things when they play. Much of the time that children spend playing is with toys. However, children at different ages need different types of toys to engage in healthy play. Understanding children s play with toys is important to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The CPSC rates toys that are currently available in the United States for children for age appropriateness. NICHD will share the findings of this study with CPSC to aid in their toy rating process. Objective: To categorize traditional and contemporary children s products and toys into age appropriate groups. Eligibility: Healthy children 6 months to 12 years old. Their parents. Design: Participants will be screened with a phone call with the parents. Participants will complete surveys online or on paper, and by phone. These will ask about demographic facts, behavior, thoughts on parenting and toys, and child development. Participants will have 1 study visit. The child will play with toys by himself or herself. Then they will play with their parent. A researcher will observe. The sessions will be videotaped. Children will share their thoughts about the toys by pointing at a smiley face scale. Parents will fill out a short survey. Then can choose to participate in a 1-hour focus group.