How to clean a soft toy at home: tips

Soft toys are items that quickly accumulate dust and dirt, so they need to be cleaned and disinfected regularly. It is better to do this several times a month. The complexity of this process is that not all toys can be washed. Many models must be cleaned by hand. This applies to both large-sized products and toys, which are complemented by a music unit. Therefore, you need to choose the right tool for this important task. The rest of the article will explain how to clean soft toys at home.

Basic Rules

There are important requirements to consider before starting cleaning:

1. Large soft toys are best treated with soda or foam. However, they can be disinfected by any means (for example, using a steam generator).
2. Some plush toys will have to be washed by hand. If this is not taken into account, they will simply deteriorate during the washing process.
3. Toys in which the music block is built in must first be disassembled and the electronic mechanism removed from them. But as a rule, the dry method is used to remove stains and dirty traces from the surface of these products.
4. Before you clean a soft toy at home, you need to see what material it is filled with. If it is a synthetic winterizer or foamed polyurethane, contaminated places will have to be removed manually with foam or soda. In addition, these products are often decorated with zippers, buttons, bows, etc., which may fall off due to machine wash.
5. It is recommended to remove yellow spots with lemon juice diluted with a small amount of water.

Cleaning in the washing machine

This is a simple and optimal way to clean a soft toy at home. Nevertheless, first you need to inspect the tag on which the recommendations should be indicated, since not all plush products are machine washable. In addition, you need to check the quality of the toy. If there are holes or seams have opened, they must be sewn up with tight threads. To clean a stuffed toy, you need to follow this instruction:

1. Put the product in a special case for washing molting things and place it in the drum of an automatic machine.
2. Pour baby powder into a special compartment. The main thing is that it does not contain zeolites, phosphates and other harmful substances.
3. Select the delicate wash mode, without spin and with an additional rinse. The water temperature should not exceed 30 ° C, so in this case the dust mites will not die.
4. Wipe the toy with a towel and wait until it dries completely.
5. Comb the fibrous cover (pile) with a clothing brush.

If the soft product shed or discolored as a result, it means that it had to be washed by hand. But perhaps it’s just made from substandard materials.

Handwash

Many soft products made of faux fur are forbidden to clean using a washing machine for this purpose. Therefore, you will have to clean the toys manually with professional preparations. To protect your hands from the negative effects of harmful substances, all actions must be carried out with rubber gloves. Housewives have come up with an effective way to clean a soft toy without a washing machine:

1. Pour into a basin, sink or other container of warm water.
2. Add powder or a special gel to clean children's items.
3. Put a soft toy in a container and wait about 15 minutes.
4. Wipe off the contaminated area with a microfiber cloth or a damp cloth.
5. Rinse the toy in water several times so that it is cleaned of the remnants of the gel or particles of powder.
6. Squeeze a soft product and wipe it with a bath towel.
7. Put the toy in a warm and well-ventilated place and wait until it dries.

However, greasy spots must be treated with a special degreasing agent (for example, a dishwashing detergent) or ethyl alcohol. As a result, the treated areas should be wiped with a brush, rinse the toy and put it to dry on the table, because in this position it does not deform.

Cleaning a soft musical toy

This product is recommended to be treated with a harmless product with antimicrobial effect. Housewives use a simple way to clean a soft toy equipped with a music unit at home:

1. Vacuum the product thoroughly.
2. Hold the toy under a quartz lamp, with which it will be possible to destroy harmful microorganisms.
3. Dampen a clean cloth with a toy cleaner.
4. Treat contaminated areas and wipe them with a dry towel at the end.

If the described option is not suitable, before you clean the soft toy in the home washing machine, you will have to pull out the musical mechanism from the product. Solving this problem is easy:

1. Get the part that the manufacturers have in a special pocket.
2. If there is no such hidden place, then the mechanism is sewn into the product. In this case, you need to gently open the seam from below or behind with scissors.
3. Pull out the music block.
4. Sew a hole with threads.
5. Wash the toy.
6. Wait for the product to dry and re-open it.
7. Insert the mechanism inside and sew it up, pulling together the edges of the fabric.

If the music unit cannot be removed, you will have to clean the surface of the toy with baby gel and shampoo.

Use of soda

This is a safe and versatile way that you can clean a soft toy without washing. To remove stains from soda, you must follow these simple steps:

1. Put the contaminated toy in a suitable size plastic bag and pour half a glass of soda into it, which absorbs dirt and grease.
2. Release excess air from the bag and tie it with a rope so that the contents do not spill out.
3. Shake it for 10 minutes. If the toy was very dirty, it must be left in the bag for an hour.
4. Remove the product and vacuum its surface.
5. Take the toy out into the fresh air.

Instead of soda, you can use potato starch.

Cleaning a big soft toy

Such a product does not fit in a washing machine, and soaking it in a basin or sink is a bad idea. However, do not be very upset, because there are many good ways that you can clean a large soft toy:

• a vacuum cleaner;
• foam;
• baking soda;
• a preparation for cleaning furniture upholstery, which includes harmless substances;
• lemon juice diluted with water.

Using the last tool, it will be possible to remove old yellow spots. To make foam for cleaning a large toy, you need to mix liquid baby soap with water. However, dust should first be removed with a brush from a soft product. Next, apply a foam to the contaminated areas with a sponge and clean them with a damp cloth. At the end, the treated area must be wiped with a dry towel.

If you need to clean a soft toy from dust, as a rule, use a vacuum cleaner for these purposes. The cleaning rules are simple:

• install a nozzle for cleaning furniture instead of the usual wide brush;
• put low suction power;
• places with small details (eyes, nose, etc.) must be vacuumed carefully.

Disinfection Methods

It is necessary to destroy dust mites that accumulate on toys at least once a month. To disinfect the product, use a steam generator and an ultraviolet lamp. Bacteria can be exterminated by washing toys in water at temperatures above 60 ° C. In addition, dust mites do not withstand extreme cold.

If you have a steam generator at home, just treat the toys with hot steam once to kill the harmful bacteria.

Conclusion

The article examined in detail popular methods that allow you to clean a soft toy at home. For these purposes, both conventional folk remedies and special preparations are used. The main thing is that they be harmless, because toxic substances can harm a person. Therefore, it is necessary to responsibly solve the problem of cleaning toys.

Nevertheless, in this article, good methods have been given by which it will be possible to quickly clean a soft product of any size using baking soda or foam.