Teach

New staff members may have a limited knowledge of child development. They might not know what toys and materials are appropriate for the age group with which they work. You can help them learn more about choosing, using, and checking toys and materials. 

Teach staff members your program’s specific policies regarding purchasing, inspecting, and reporting problems with materials. Make sure you are familiar with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission and its recall lists. You may need to lead efforts to identify and exclude materials that have been recalled. The Consumer Product Safety Commission keeps a database of product recalls. Visit www.saferproducts.gov to see lists of recalled products. You can find a link for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website in the References and Resources section of this lesson.

Use the resources concerning best practices found here in the Virtual Lab School. Collect staff members’ responses to the Explore section in their own lessons about safe toys and materials. Review their responses and compare them to the suggested answers. What misunderstandings do you see? Talk to staff members about any safety risks they did not identify in the Explore section activities and in their own classrooms.

Model

You are an important role model for providing safe materials. You should help staff members choose materials and review their purchasing lists or requests. Talk to staff members about the materials they request and how they can be used safely in child-development or school-age programs. If an item is appropriate for only a certain group of children (i.e., an item for children ages 10 or over in a school-age program for children ages 5-12), begin to discuss ways the staff members can introduce the toy, set guidelines for its use, and make sure it is used safely. Ask questions about the staff members’ goals for the item and how those goals could be reached with age-appropriate materials.  Help staff members think in advance about issues. For example, if a school-age program has a toy for children ages 10 and up, help the staff member practice what they might say to younger children who want to play. Model ideas like, “We need to be safe. Let’s find a toy that we can play with together.”

You can also model using toys and material safely. If you see materials that seem unsafe, say something. Step in to help children if needed. It is your responsibility to help keep children safe. Always debrief with staff members after you have modeled or helped out in a program. Be sure to explain why you did what you did.

You can model how to check toys and materials for safety. Regularly walk around your program and inspect toys and materials for damage. Report problems. Make sure staff members are supported when they report problems with materials.

Observe

Safe toys and materials are an important part of programs for children. It is your job to help staff members be sure these materials are safe. Inspect toys and materials regularly while you are in programs. Also observe staff members as they choose, use, and check the toys and materials in their programs. Talk with staff members about the materials they provide. Help them reflect on the safety of those materials. 

You can use the Safe Materials Best Practices Checklist in the Apply section to focus your observations on safe materials.

It is also important to prepare yourself to support staff across the range of skills and competencies you will see. Staff members have different strengths and challenges related to choosing, using and checking toys and materials. In this section, you will see several examples of safe and unsafe materials. 

We will follow a case example that shows the challenges in choosing and using age-appropriate materials in an infant setting and a school-age setting. Then, you will see how a PUBLICcoach might respond to support the staff members. Finally, you will see a few additional video examples with commentary about how PUBLICcoaches might support individual staff members.

Now take some time to think about the examples you just saw. What strengths and concerns did you notice? How would you respond to each situation?

Once staff members have identified unsafe materials, you are a valuable resource for helping them make necessary changes. Now watch a follow-up video from the infant classroom. What different materials did the staff member use to improve safety?

Additional Examples of Safe Materials

Here are a few additional examples of things you might see in programs. After watching the clip, read the ways a PUBLICcoach might respond to help reinforce the use of safe materials.

Following each video, think about the competencies you saw and what you might say or do. Here is an example:

Assess Professional Understanding and Practice

At this point, staff members should recognize and use safe materials all day, every day. You are ready to observe and document their new competencies. Use the Safe Materials Best Practices Checklist in the Apply section. Observe in the classroom using the checklist as a guide. Discuss your notes with the staff member. Store it in the employee’s training file. This is not the end of learning, however. Observe, provide feedback, and offer resources as needed throughout the employee’s career. Needs will change, but your role will always serve a critical mission.