Baby & Toddler Toys
Buy and sell baby and toddler toys in Panama.
A play gym from the first months, a shape sorter with every shape still in it, a push walker that sang through someone’s first steps: toys for babies and toddlers get a few months of hard use and are then left behind, usually in good order. New and pre-owned both turn up, from wooden stacking rings to the electronic Fisher-Price and VTech pieces. In Panama one detail separates two talking toys that look identical: whether they sing in English, in Spanish or in both, and it is worth hearing before you settle on a price.
A baby outgrows a rattle long before it wears out:
and the same goes for most of what follows it. The early months are for looking and grabbing: rattles, teethers and the play gym, a padded mat under an arch of hanging toys for a baby to kick at. Sitting up brings stacking rings, shape sorters and activity cubes with small doors and dials. Standing brings the push walker, a handle and play panel on wheels that rolls ahead while the child steps along behind it, and after that the ride-ons pushed with the feet. Each stage is short, so its toys tend to come up together and barely marked. Once the hands get steadier, chunky bricks move to building sets and blocks, first wooden knob boards to puzzles, and the soft toy for bedtime to plush toys.
The language a talking baby toy speaks:
matters more in Panama than the brand on the box. Electronic toys from Fisher-Price’s Laugh & Learn line or from VTech are made in English, Spanish and bilingual versions, and one brought back from a trip to the United States usually sings only in English. Some parents want exactly that; others want songs in the language the grandparents speak. Many bilingual models have a switch to change language, so ask the seller to flip it on video. A light-up activity table holds attention for a few weeks; stacking cups or a wooden sorter get passed down through several children because there is nothing inside to break. Read the age on the label as well: a toy meant for older children can hold parts small enough to swallow, and anything that slips through a toilet-paper tube is too small for a baby who still puts everything in its mouth.
What a push walker is worth once the songs stop:
new in Panama, a musical walker from Fisher-Price or VTech runs about $50 to $70, and a wooden one from Hape is close to $100. Second-hand, the two part ways. The plastic walker depends on a speaker, a battery box and a panel slapped for months on end, so every button that goes quiet takes something off it. The wooden one has little to fail beyond its wheels and the speed adjuster, and a clean one keeps much of its value, since most families only need it for the stretch between first standing and walking alone.
Second-hand baby toys go wrong in the bath and the battery box:
start with anything that holds water. Rubber ducks and squirters with a hole underneath trap bath water, and the black inside them is mould that no rinse reaches, so squeeze one over a white sink or leave the bath toys out of the deal. On wood, look for paint chipped by new teeth. On plastic, look for cracks where a toddler’s weight lands: the walker handle, the ride-on seat. Then count the pieces. A shape sorter missing a shape or a stacking set short of a ring loses most of its point, and those parts are almost never found on their own. Nearly every electronic baby toy has its battery door held by a small screw, so bring fresh batteries and a screwdriver, open it up and try every button before you pay.
A clip of the toy singing in its own language:
answers most of what a parent wants to know, so fit new batteries and record it with the sound up. Give the brand and model if they are printed underneath, the age range from the box and what comes with it. Teethers and bath toys rarely find a buyer once opened, while play gyms, walkers and ride-ons are what families happily take second-hand. Then put the language in the title. A family in Las Tablas looking for a walker that sings in Spanish will never find one listed only as a musical walker.