Children's blocks?

[danadear]

We bought a big bag of beautiful children's blocks at the flea market on Saturday thinking we may be able to use them with our birds. Are children's wooden blocks safe for birds?

If not we will just give them to someone with a child.

 

[Danita]

Some people don't give them, where others will sell them on their toys.
It is kind of a personal choice.
They were made for kids, it is the paint that is an issue.

 

[danadear]

I was hoping the paint was non-toxic since they are made for human babies..then again human babies will not actually EAT them the way macaws will..LOL. I will have to do a lot more research I guess.

 

[cosmolove]

I give them to Ralphie. I would think since they are made for babies they should be made with non toxic paint.

 

[Ziggymon]

The paint may be nontoxic, but it will chip off under a bird's beak, and if ingested, may not pass through the sytem as it would with a human. Also, if you look at the proportion of paint to body weight, there's a big difference between a bird and a human, even a human baby.

That's why some people won't give birds anything painted, no matter how nontoxic the paint.

 

[Ribbit21]

I give them to Jasper since he's more of a block thrower than chewer. I don't give them to Marshall though since he's a big wood chewer.

 

[Jaybird]

I've given them to my birds for almost thirty years with no problems. Anyone who knows Macaws and Cockatoos, knows that they're wood-chipper/buzzsaws. The only concern would be if they're 'antique' blocks. Some blocks made in the early 1900's-1960's used some unsafe materials, so be cautious when buying from flea markets and trade shows!

 

[65sunnyday]

I'm glad you asked that, because I do home daycare (only part-time now) & bought a big bag of colored blocks for the kids to play with from Toys R Us, noticed the were made in China. This was just before all the reports (from the FDA I think) concerning toxic contaminants in baby milk, dog food, etc The US has stringent requirements for baby toys, & I guess manufacturers had assumed they were being complied with, when somebody blew a whistle & we all realized greed (cutting corners to increase profits) wasn't a flaw unique to Western capitalism. I no longer trust that because it's made for babies, it must be safe.

Personally, I think such a world no longer exists. All the blocks went into the trash.

 

[Cynth]

block paint does not chip. I have had these for years and years and they have gone through multiple kids (and some dogs). The problem is they are usually too big or hard for my scarlet anyway. It is easy to make blocks out of natural wood and you can do fun projects and it is much, much cheaper.