a) ISO: ISO 8124-1:2018;

b) Europe (CEN): EN 71-1:2014+A1:2018;

c) USA: ASTM F963:2017.

a) ISO: ISO 8124-1:2014;

b) Europe (CEN): EN 71-1:2014;

c) USA: ASTM F963:2011.

This Technical Report can also be used as a reference to determine the appropriateness of toys by earliest age, for use by distributors, institutions, and organizations involved with child play, as well as by paediatric institutions, teachers, other professionals that use toys in their routine activities, and consumers.

The age at which children develop different abilities is unique for each individual child. These guidelines illustrate the age ranges during which a typical child has developed certain abilities.

Although age grading has safety implications, these guidelines are not intended to address specific safety requirements. Specific safety requirements for toys can be found in the ISO 8124 series of toy safety standards (and in other regional toy safety standards and regulations). As an example, such standards will restrict the presence of small parts and small balls in toys intended for certain age groups, due to the choking hazard.

These age determination guidelines are based on the advice of experts and traditional play patterns of children; they might differ from national or regional regulations or directives that classify a toy, or category of toy, as being intended for a different age.

Annex B gives details on how information on electronic toys and electronics in toys was considered in the development of these age determination guidelines.

It is not applicable to paints intended to be applied to the face or body e.g. face paints.

Additional requirements are specified for markings, labelling and containers.

Digestion methods for the elements mentioned above are specified for the following types of toy materials:

• coatings of paints, varnishes, lacquers, printing inks, polymers, and similar coatings;
• polymeric and similar materials, including laminates, whether textile-reinforced or not, but excluding other textiles;
• paper, paperboard, and cardboard;
• natural or synthetic textiles;
• metallic materials whether coated or not;
• other materials, whether mass-coloured or not (e.g. wood, fibreboard, hardboard, bone, and leather);
• materials intended to leave a trace (e.g. the graphite materials in pencils and liquid ink in pens);
• pliable modelling materials, including modelling clays and gels;
• paints to be used as such in the toy, including finger paints, varnishes, lacquers, and similar materials in solid or liquid form;
• packaging materials that form part of the toy or have intended play value.

Products covered by ISO 8124-4:2014 include swings, slides, seesaws, carousels, rocking toys, climbing frames, fully enclosed toddler swing seats and other products intended to bear the mass of one or more children.

Inflatable activity toys are included in the scope of ISO 8124-4:2014.