Baby Toys
Buy and sell baby toys in Costa Rica.
Most of a baby’s toys in a Costa Rican home arrive in two rushes, at the baby shower and on the first Christmas the Niño Dios visits, and plenty are outgrown before anyone throws the box away. Rattles and teethers, play gyms with arches over a padded mat, jumpers, stacking cups, cloth books and push-along walkers change hands here new and pre-owned. A baby moves through them in stages, from lying on a mat to sitting up to pulling up on the furniture, so a toy that kept one child busy for a few months often reaches the next family with most of its life still ahead of it.
Rattles, play gyms and the toys that come after sitting up:
before a baby rolls over, it is rattles, soft toys with crinkly fabric, high-contrast cloth books and the play gym, a padded mat with two crossed arches and toys hanging within reach. Once the baby sits steady, the floor fills with stacking cups and rings, shape sorters, board books and toys with buttons that play a tune. Pulling up brings push-along walkers. The jumper and the activity centre with a seat sit in between, for the months when a baby wants to stand but cannot yet. Mobiles that clip over the crib are with nursery decor, bath seats and tubs with baby care, and toys that clip onto a handlebar travel with the strollers.
Toys that go in the mouth and toys that need batteries:
anything a baby can hold ends up in the mouth, so the question with a rattle, teether or soft toy is whether it can be washed properly. Solid silicone and smooth wood wipe clean, and a soft toy should come out of the washing machine with its shape intact. Liquid-filled teethers and toys with sealed hollow chambers cannot be checked inside, which is why many parents buy those new. Electronic toys are a separate decision. A lot of them reach Costa Rica made for the US market and sing and count only in English; some have a switch for Spanish, so ask which language it plays before you count on it.
Play gyms and jumpers carry the price:
a play gym with arches and a padded mat costs around ₡40,000 to ₡55,000 new, and a jumper or activity centre with a seat closer to ₡85,000 to ₡90,000. Both get a few months of use and are then folded into a corner, so second-hand ones tend to be in good shape, and what pulls the price down is a missing piece: a hanging toy, a tray toy, one of the clips that hold the arches. Small mouthed toys work the other way round. A used teether or rattle is worth very little, while the same one still sealed in its packaging keeps nearly all of its shelf price, because sealed is how most parents want it.
Squeeze the bath duck before anything else:
any bath toy with a hole in it draws water in and grows black mould inside, where no wash reaches. Squeeze it over a white tissue; if dark specks come out, it belongs in the bin, not in the sale. On electronic toys, open the battery compartment and look for white or green crust on the contacts, the mark of a battery left to leak, then test every button with fresh batteries. Pull on the eyes and nose of soft toys: embroidered features stay put, glued or snapped-on ones can work loose. Run a finger along wooden toys for chipped paint and splinters, and look over hard plastic for cracks that could free a small piece. On a jumper, check the fabric seat where the legs rub, the straps or springs, and that the height adjustment locks firmly.
Every piece of the play gym in the photo:
lay the toy out with everything that belongs to it, arches, hanging toys, tray pieces and the box if you kept it, and give the piece count, checked against the picture on the box. Wash the fabric parts and wipe the hard ones before you take the pictures, put fresh batteries in anything that plays a tune, record a short clip of it working and say which language it speaks. Unopened gifts deserve their own listing: the duplicates from a baby shower, a first birthday or Christmas often sit in a wardrobe still in their packaging. Say whether a jumper or activity centre comes apart. Neither folds flat, and someone coming from Puntarenas or Limón by bus needs to know it will fit before they set off.