What motivates the 3 year old limit for toy safety?

To make it clear, I am not referring to the choking hazard itself. It is obvious that small parts present a danger and accidents can occur when small children play with toys intended for older children.

My question rather refers to what is behind the 3 year old limit. Is it motivated by biological / anatomical development, i.e., are > 3 year olds capable of coughing to get small bits unstuck from their throats? Or is it behaviour, i.e., 3 year olds can be trusted to not put small bits in ther mouths? Or something else? In other words, why does the standard say 3 years?

up vote 23 down vote accepted

In the USA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) sets these limits. In Which Toy for Which Child Ages Birth Through Five (only a PDF for download), the reasoning is explained.

In short, the reason (p. 3):

Young children explore objects in their environment by "mouthing" them. Children can choke to death on such items.

Then, for each age / category, abilities and interests and suitable toys are further explained. Most interesting to you may be "Older Toddlers (2 Year Olds)" on p. 19 and "Preschoolers 3, 4 and 5 Years" on p. 24 as this concerns the age restriction.

Preschoolers:

increasing finger control - can pick up small objects, cut on a line with scissors, hold pencil in adult grasp, string small beads (Most children in this age group can begin using toys with smaller components. If child is still mouthing objects, select toys without small parts.)

Based on this, it seems that the increase in finger control makes mouthing for children above age 3 typically unnecessary, while for children below that age, mouthing remains the preferred method of examinig small objects. If they are too small, they may choke on them.

While there are good reasons behind the toy safety standards, this comment by pojo-guy is also part of the truth:

I believe the motivation is a simple fear of lawsuits.

I have seen those "not for children under 3 years" warnings on books and other kinds of objects that do not seem to pose any particular choking hazard, and even when very similar toys are sold with a marking of 1+ years.

The reason is probably that the relevant toy standards have a lot more safety tests that have to be done for toys intended for children under 3 years. Quoting from EN71 which is the toy safety standard for EU market area:

Toys intended for children under 36 months shall in addition to relevant requirements of Clause 4 conform to the following requirements ...

a) Toys and removable components of toys shall not, whatever their position, fit entirely in the cylinder when tested according to 8.2 (small parts cylinder)

b) When tested according to 8.3 (torque test), 8.4.2.1 (tension test, general), 8.5 (drop test), 8.7 (impact test) and 8.8 (compression test), ...

...

The list continues up to g), and that is only the general requirements, with more requirements following for toys with soft filling, for toys with cords etc. The required tests are quite comprehensive and probably quite expensive if you buy it as a service from some certified testing company.

Compared to this, the requirements in "Clause 4" that apply to all toys, are mostly common sense and most of them do not have mandatory testing. So if you just put "over 3 years" label on the product, it is much easier to satisfy the requirements of the standard. Whereas if you want to legally sell a toy for children under 3 years in Europe, you usually need to perform a long series of tests.

Everything I read when investigating this said 3 is the average age by which babys stop mouthing.

https://www.babycentre.co.uk/x6721/why-does-my-baby-put-everything-in-her-mouth

By the time she's two years old, your child will use her fingers to explore most of the time. And by the age of three years, most children have stopped putting objects into their mouths.

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