Children’s products rarely fail review because the silicone was wrong. They fail because a decorative eye was a separate part, because a hard backing plate sat behind a soft cover, or because a moulded edge was left sharp enough to scratch. We mould cartoon animal cases and moulded decorative components for kids’ device programmes, and we design them around the physical hazards a review will look for: small detachable parts, hard inserts, sharp flash and coatings in mouth-contact areas. Every point below is a design decision, not an inspection step. If it is designed in, inspection has nothing to catch. The classic failure is an eye, nose or charm that is a separate moulded piece pushed into a socket. Under pull, it comes out at exactly the size a small child puts in their mouth. Design answer: mould the feature into the shell, or bond it during cure so it becomes one part. Where a charm must be separate, treat it as its own product with its own pull test and its own warning. A polycarbonate plate inside a soft cover makes the case feel premium and turns it into a hard object with edges when the cover is removed or chewed. Design answer: all-silicone construction, with stiffness coming from wall geometry rather than from a second material. Flash at the parting line is the defect children notice first, and the one a reviewer photographs. It comes from tool wear, not from the design. Design answer: parting line placed on a non-contact face, with a defined deflash step and a visual standard agreed at sample approval. Spray coats and printed layers can be abraded or mouthed. On a device a child handles constantly, a coating is a wear surface that eventually exposes a different colour underneath. Design answer: through-colour compound on any area likely to be handled or mouthed, with print reserved for surfaces a child does not put in their mouth. The decorative pieces in a kids’ range — badges, nameplates, clip-on characters — are often quoted with the case and approved with it. That is the wrong unit of approval. A clip-on piece has its own attachment, its own pull-out risk and its own small-part dimensions. It needs its own specification and its own test, even when it ships in the same box. We will quote it separately and say plainly which part of the assembly the report covers. This is also where licensed artwork usually enters. The licence has to come from you, in writing, before tooling. We mould to supplied art and do not source characters ourselves. Being clear about this early prevents a shipment sitting in a warehouse waiting for a certificate nobody ordered. Testing follows the final colour and grade. Booking a laboratory before the sample is frozen is the most common way a kids’ programme loses three weeks. Internal corners are radiused and the shell is a single open form, so a wipe reaches every surface a child touches. Port and speaker openings are sized so liquid and crumbs do not sit behind a lip. A closed pocket behind a cutout becomes a bacterial trap. Nothing laminated, flocked or stitched onto the part. Soft textile trim on a kids’ device is a cleaning and a choking problem at once. The case and the add-on pieces are quoted as separate items, with separate specifications and separate tests. No. Features are moulded in the shell or bonded during cure as part of the same part. If a design needs a genuinely separate charm, we quote it as a separate item with its own attachment and its own pull test, and we say so in writing. We can specify a compound grade and a through-colour construction suited to that use, and supply the supplier declarations that go with the grade. Whether the finished product passes your market’s requirements depends on the whole assembly and on third-party testing, which is commissioned against the final sample rather than assumed from the material. Only from artwork you are licensed to use. Send the licence reference with the art files. We do not hold character licences and will not reproduce third-party characters on our own initiative. Yes, and it is the safer route for personalisation: the lettering is part of the mould, so there is nothing applied on top to wear or peel. Nameplate-style components can also be moulded as separate items if they are meant to be handed out individually. Send the device model, the age group and the market you sell into. You get a hazard review of the artwork, a construction proposal with no glued parts, and a document list scoped to that market. Related reading: which certificates actually apply to a custom silicone case.
Kids’ device cases · hazard-led design
A kid-safe case is defined by what is not attached to it
Four hazards, and the moulding answer to each
Small detachable parts
Hard inserts and backing plates
Sharp flash and parting lines
Coatings in mouth-contact areas
Charms and add-ons are separate products
Documents a kids’ programme needs, and who holds them
Document Source When to request Compound safety data sheet Compound supplier, passed through us with the batch record At sample approval Material declarations (RoHS, REACH where applicable) Compound supplier, per grade Before tooling, if your market requires it Migration or heavy-metal testing Third-party laboratory, commissioned for your SKU After the production sample is fixed, because the test follows the exact colour and grade Small-parts assessment Your compliance team, on the finished assembly Once the attachment method is frozen Colour and appearance standard Agreed between us, signed against a master sample At sample approval
Cleanability is part of the safety case
No dirt traps
Openings that drain
No fabric or fibre
Moulded components in a kids’ range
What buyers ask before placing a kids’ programme
Are the character features glued on?
Can you supply a case that a toddler might mouth?
Can you print licensed characters?
Can we have a name or a school logo moulded in?
Planning a kids’ device or school programme?
