AI Toy Safety: What to Actually Check Before You Buy
AI toy safety is a handful of design decisions made before the toy ships, not a single feature. A practical...
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Every article from the Ted&Co blog, in one place.
121 articles
Smart Teddy Bear: What It Can (and Can't) Actually Do
A smart teddy bear connects to Wi-Fi, listens, and answers back in real time. What actually makes one "smart," what...
California SB 1119: What the New Chatbot Law Requires
California signed SB 1119 alongside the SB 867 sales pause on 10 September 2026. A plain read of what the...
Bilingual Toys for Toddlers: What the Research Shows
Electronic toys can quietly reduce how much parents and toddlers talk during play. A look at what the research actually...
Screen-Free Activities for Kids Ages 3 to 6
Screen-free activities for kids aged 3 to 6, set against what French and American guidance actually say, and what three...
Bedtime Routine for Toddlers: A Calm Plan for Ages 1-3
A bedtime routine for toddlers works best at twenty to thirty minutes, four or five steps, same order every night....
AI Teddy Bear Review: What Most Reviews Never Check
AI teddy bear reviews test sound, battery and softness. They cannot test what the toy refuses to say, or where...
No-Screen Toys for Toddlers: A Guide for Ages 1 to 3
No-screen toys for toddlers are not a nostalgic preference. Two well known studies, plus French and American paediatric guidance, point...
Are AI Toys Dangerous? Inside the New Call for a Ban
On 1 September 2026, Public Citizen, Heat Initiative and MAMA called for a ban on all AI chatbot toys and...
My Child Won't Go to Bed: What Actually Stops Stalling
Bedtime resistance is behavioural, not usually a sleep disorder. What the AASM sleep targets mean for bedtime, what a routine...
Multilingual Toys for Kids: What Actually Helps
Multilingual toys for kids promise early language learning. Here is what the published research supports, what it does not, and...
Connected Toys and GDPR: What Rights Do Parents Have?
A connected toy that listens to your child is doing something European law regulates tightly. Here is the list of...
Screen-Free Activities for Kids 7 to 12 That Actually Work
The screen-free advice every parent reads is written for four-year-olds, and it stops working around seven. What the research shows...
How to Teach a Child a Second Language at Home
Which family language routine actually makes a child speak a second language, how many hours a week it takes, and...
Personalized Bedtime Stories: What the Research Shows
Personalized bedtime stories are sold as a small piece of magic. A 12-year follow-up study, the self-reference effect, and an...
AI Plush Toys by Age: What Fits a 3 to 12 Year Old
Most AI plush toys are advertised from age two. That number comes from a marketing team, not a developmental guideline....
Screen Time for Kids: Does a Parent's Phone Matter?
A new Norwegian cohort study followed 747 children from age 5 to 7. Most measures of the child's own screen...
My Toddler Isn't Talking Yet: When Should I Worry About a Late Talker?
Not talking much at 18 months? Most late talkers catch up on their own, and the research is more honest...
The 3-6-9-12 Rule: What France Recommends in 2026
The 3-6-9-12 rule has guided French parents since 2008. France has since replaced two of its four thresholds. Here is...
Best AI Toy for a 4-Year-Old: What Actually Matters
A four-year-old holds full conversations, invents plots and asks about anything. Here is what that means for choosing a talking...
Bedtime Stories for 3-Year-Olds: What Actually Works
Bedtime stories for 3-year-olds work best when they are short, familiar and always in the same place in the evening....
How to Get Kids to Sleep: Is Bedtime at the Wrong Time?
Most bedtime battles are treated as a discipline problem. A large share of them are a timing problem. How much...
How to Expand a Toddler's Vocabulary: What 3,150 Kids Show
A new study of 3,150 toddlers separates what actually grows a vocabulary from what parents worry about. Hearing several accents...
Toys That Help With Speech Development: What Works
Toys do not teach speech, people do. Here is what the research on electronic toys, books and blocks actually shows,...
How Long Should a Bedtime Story Be? A Guide by Age
Five to fifteen minutes works for most children aged 3 to 12, but the research points to consistency over length....
ChatGPT Toys for Kids: What Is Actually Inside Them
Dozens of talking toys advertise ChatGPT on the box. A March 2026 PIRG report found the AI companies behind those...
Conversational AI Toys: What a New UW Study Found
University of Washington researchers watched eight children play with three conversational AI plush toys. Curiosity turned into frustration, then into...
How to Make Up a Bedtime Story for Your Child
A five-line structure you can reuse every night, how long the story should be, what to do when your child...
How to Choose a Safe AI Toy: Maryland's Bill as a Checklist
Maryland's AI Toy Safety Act has been sitting in committee since February 2026. It may never become law, but its...
Screen Time and Sleep: What Actually Keeps Kids Awake
Screens cut into children's sleep. New 2026 research suggests the gap between the last screen and lights out matters more...
Screen Time by Age: Recommendations for Ages 3 to 12
Screen time by age recommendations for children 3 to 12, from pediatricians in the US and France, plus an honest...
Do Interactive Bedtime Stories Beat Reading Aloud?
Pausing to ask two questions during a bedtime story produced bigger gains in creative thinking than reading straight through, in...
Do AI Toys Work Without Internet? What Parents Should Know
Which parts of an AI toy run on the device and which need a server, what happens the moment the...
Screen-Free Toys: A Smarter Way to Play
Discover how screen-free toys encourage imagination, conversation and learning. Meet Ted, the interactive teddy bear designed for screen-free play.
Kids Are Bonding With AI Toys. Almost Nobody Is Studying What That Does
A Brookings piece says only 5.26% of child-and-AI research looks at relationships. What that gap means for parents choosing a...
How Do I Get My Child to Talk About Their Day at School?
Children say fine because the question is too big. Here is what research on parent conversation styles says actually works,...
Which Talking Plush Toy Is Best for a Bilingual Child? Ary (Lookiz) and Ted&Co Compared
Can an interactive plush toy really help a child learn a language? What Ary (Lookiz) and Ted&Co actually offer, what...
How Does a Talking Teddy Bear Actually Understand My Child?
Inside a conversational plush toy: the five steps between a question and an answer, why speech recognition struggles with young...
How Long Should I Read to My Child Each Day? What the Research Actually Says
One picture book a day is the threshold that changes the numbers. Here is how many minutes, why the way...
Europe Just Changed Its AI Rules. What It Means for the Toy in Your Child's Bedroom
On 2 August 2026 the EU AI Act became enforceable. Here is what applies to connected toys now, what waits...
How Do I Know If My Child Has a Speech Delay? Milestones and Red Flags by Age
Milestones at 2, 3, 4 and 5, how much a stranger should understand, why the CDC checklist changed in 2022,...
At What Age Should a Child Start Learning a Second Language?
There is no cut-off age, only overlapping windows. What the research says about accent, grammar and how much daily practice...
Harvard Is Now Testing an AI Toy With Children. What the Study Is Actually Looking For
Harvard built its own AI toy and began testing it with children. What the study measures, what Cambridge already found,...
How Do You Choose an Interactive Plush Toy for a Child? 7 Questions to Ask Before You Buy
Ary by Lookiz, Ted and the rest: seven questions that separate a well-designed talking plush toy from a chatbot in...
How Do I Prepare My Child for Starting School? A Calm 3-Week Plan
Starting school soon? A calm three-week plan for ages 3 to 6: sleep, goodbyes, rehearsing the day, and how to...
The Senate Just Advanced a Bill on AI Toys. What S.5171 Would Actually Do
A bipartisan AI toy bill cleared the US Senate Commerce Committee on 5 August 2026. What S.5171 would change for...
Why Does My Child Ask So Many Questions? What 107 an Hour Actually Means
Preschoolers ask up to 107 questions an hour. Here is why they do it, what research says makes a good...
What Can I Give My Child Instead of a Tablet? 14 Alternatives That Actually Hold Their Attention
Looking for a tablet alternative for a 3 to 6 year old? Here is why most swaps fail, what the...
My Child Refuses to Speak Our Language. What Do I Do?
Your child understands but answers in the school language. Why it happens, what population data shows, and the strategies that...
Is It Normal for My Child to Have an Imaginary Friend?
Two children in three have an imaginary friend by age 7. What it builds, how to respond, and the rare...
