How Do You Sterilize Toys?

[KEG123]

I imagine everyone has their own methods depending on what is actually being cleaned.

So I was wondering how you clean/ sterilize your toys? Dishwasher? Bleach? Hot soapy water?

Does it depends on if it's a wooden or a plastic toy?

[MamaBear]

I use bleach spray and things that are plastic and small enough, I toss in the dishwasher. Wooden things I use bleach spray. Sometimes I spray Lysol & then rinse it off - but I cant find one that the smell doesn't make me gag. Always smells like bug spray to me. Sometimes I use those bleach wipes too.

[KEG123]

I also can't stand the smell of lysol.

[Abigail]

The only toy I'm unsure of how to clean still in my Lincoln logs. I did wash them in warm soapy water and towel dried them right away and then let them sit on a towel to finish drying over night. I need to clean them again and think I should use bleach water. I don't have any wonderful large wooden blocks yet, but same issue, don't know how to clean wooden blocks.

WASHER/DRYER
All my cloth books, stuffed animals, blankets, dolls (yes they have plastic heads and cloth tummies) and all my soft infant items go into the washer with Tide and go into the dryer. I usually wash/dry these with my own clothes so they don't bang too much. When my clothes are done drying though the items are usually damp so I lay them out on the counter over night to finish air drying. The dolls with plastic heads/arms/leg go put into a shoe bag in my dryer because the first time I put them in the dryer it was so load it sounded like my dryer was going to blow up and all my cats freaked out! That lasted 10 seconds because I attached a drying bag to the inside of my dryer! You can find those in the laundry sections at stores near lingerie bags, ironing boards, laundry baskets, etc. They are advertised for putting your shoes in to dry.

HAND WASH
All my books, peek a blocks, and other items that can't be put under water because they'll get ruined or get water stuck inside of them get hand washed. I filled the sink up with bleach water solution and put on gloves and use a rag to wipe everything down real well. The paperback book pages just get cleaned on the covers. The board books get every page wiped down and then set up like a fan to air dry.

DUNK WASH
Any other plastic items I had that could be submerged underwater I put directly into the bleach water solution in the sink or if they were larger items I filled the tub with bleach water solution. I don't just dunk things, I put them in, take them out, wipe down with my rag, and set to dry. I have small waffle blocks, which I did hand wash in the tub TOOK FOREVER which next time they will just go in the dishwasher except for the few pieces that have stickers on them.

DISHWASHER
If I have small items like duplos and other hard-to-reach-every-surface-toy that can go completely under water I place in lingerie bags and put on the top rack of the dishwasher while I wash my own dishes.

***MY RULE FOR DAYCARE ITEMS, if it can't easily be cleaned by hand, dishwasher, or washer/dryer I don't buy it! Kids love so many toys and most of the toys on the market are really targeted towards adults liking it and I don't "buy it" What do kids love most anyways? The empty boxes from all the packaging or the packing peanuts or the stickers, etc. Just thought I would add I have an electronic free childcare setting--some infant items make sounds, but I do not have any talking dolls, barking/walking dogs, handheld electronics, etc. I don't have any outside toys yet. I don't use any other sprays at the moment and really like the simplicity of just bleach water.

[sharlan]

If it's an outside toy, I spray off with the hose. On occ, I'll fill a big bucket with soapy water, wash, and rinse.

Inside, anything big enough goes into the diswasher. Lots of little things like Legos, cars, etc. I wash in the sink in hot soapy water. Larger toys, I take a bucket of soapy water or bleach water and water them with a wash cloth and let air dry. If the toys aren't too grungy, I'll spray with the anywhere spray.

[KEG123]

So I see some of you put them in the dishwasher, in a lingerine bag. But what if I don't have a lingerine bag?

[Crazy8]

most toys go in the dishwasher here - some just in the sink with bleach/water.

you can get little mesh bags at the dollar store, walmart, etc. to use in the dishwasher. I also have 2 of those bottle holder cage things that I will put small toys in in the dishwasher.

baby dolls and a few other soft toys go in the washing mashine.

[blueclouds29]

what if you don't have a dishwasher? Like me? I just throw everything in the sing with Lysol and hand wash the rest.

[VanessaEO]

I spray them with bleach water, weekly. or mouthed ones daily.

Then about once a month I spray them with stronger bleach water and then wipe them off.

[Hunni Bee]

Okay...so how do you dry? I work in a center, so I have about a half a million small toys (play food, little people, building toys, manipulatives) to wash, rinse, sanitize and dry. It usually takes about a week to do them all...but Im thinking if I use the industrial three-part sink thingy in the kitchen I can probably get them all done in one day....

But then how do I dry them? I usually lay them on a towel to dry but that can take 2 or 3 days to completely dry, and then still end up having bleach water inside the play food, because they all have holes :confused:

Im thinking buying those big mesh toy bags from Dollar Tree and hanging them outside to drip dry....or either putting them in those bags and setting the dryer to "air dry"? I know the noise will be hellacious but the dryer is in the basement, and it shouldn't take that long...

...do either of those sound okay?

[Abigail]

Okay...so how do you dry? I work in a center, so I have about a half a million small toys (play food, little people, building toys, manipulatives) to wash, rinse, sanitize and dry. It usually takes about a week to do them all...but Im thinking if I use the industrial three-part sink thingy in the kitchen I can probably get them all done in one day....

But then how do I dry them? I usually lay them on a towel to dry but that can take 2 or 3 days to completely dry, and then still end up having bleach water inside the play food, because they all have holes :confused:

Im thinking buying those big mesh toy bags from Dollar Tree and hanging them outside to drip dry....or either putting them in those bags and setting the dryer to "air dry"? I know the noise will be hellacious but the dryer is in the basement, and it shouldn't take that long...

...do either of those sound okay?

Right now I work in a group setting that pretty much functions like a small center. We have an industrial dishwasher we use and everyday we bring a bag of toys that is safe to wash in their down to do while we do dishes during nap time. You should go through all your toys that shouldn't be submerged in water (like your food that has holes) and make a list of the categories. Some play food you could probably submerge while other ones you can't, but all your action figures and cars and manipulatives usually can survive the dishwasher/submerged in water....

Take into consideration the amount of counter space you have available to use to air dry. I would never dry everything by hand because it's a waste of time and you just use more effort and towels in drying. The air can dry them just fine. If you have enough counter space to just let your cars and action figures lay out overnight to dry then do those two toy categories on Monday's then do the same for the rest of the week.

For items that take a long time to dry do on Fridays to let dry over the weekend. We do lego's on Fridays because they don't take too long to dry, but with how many we have they need to just be stacked so much on top of each other with our limited counter space that they take extra time to dry to the bottom layer, LOL...too many lego's in my opinion, but it's not my daycare.

Finally, for items that get water stuck inside them they should just be washed with a rag that was in bleach water solution and will dry within minutes since they were not submerged. Those items you need to be more careful with because if bleach water was stuck in a toy that is mouth a child would end up sucking on some of it and that is not cool!

Create a weekly calendar list of what you clean each day of the week to keep things in order and not be overwhelmed to clean them all one day and pass out with smelling bleach that long. Make sure you have a bucket or something to place mouthed toys into throughout the day to clean for the next day as well too.

[KEG123]

Good tips Abigail.

[Jewels]

I have a container in the playroom, that I use for clean up, any plastic toys that are played with and on the floor at the end of the day, go right into the the basket, as long as they don't have batteries or stuffed animals or babies, and then everyday I dump those toys into the sink with bleach water( I even throw all the naked barbies in bleack water, let them dry for a little bit on the drying side, then put them back in the basket, and leave them there for the next whole day to dry mostly, the kids don't miss these toys for a day, there are plenty more....and then I spray big items, that can not be put in the mouth with lysol, The shopping carts, little people house, the chairs, the floor(my playroom is lined with the foam interlocking squares.

[wdmmom]

I use a commercial grade sanitizer. You mix it 1 part sanitizer to 16 parts water. I put it in a large spray bottle so it's easy to spray and wipe down the toys.

[WImom]

Inside - I use 7th generation disinfect spray every other night and then once a month I clean stuff either in the dishwasher or washing machine. Table toys or toys that don't get played with much I wash once a month.

I have only preschool aged so if something happens to get mouthed it goes in a 'yuck bucket' to get washed.

Outside - I spray off with hose every month and every other I wash with soap and water and spray off.