Hanukkah is underway, and Christmas is less than a week away. As kids open presents, you'll want to be careful about what toys they're playing with.Experts say choking remains a major hazard of kids' toys, especially ones with lithium batteries.Paula Cox, the environmental health manager with the Guilford County Department of Public Health, said lithium batteries can be found in various toys. "Make sure everybody in your home is aware that that is a hazard," she said. "That battery can get lodged in a child's throat, and it can actually burn their throat."She says other choking hazards may be small pellets from bean bag chairs or stuffing that may be found in stuffed animals. Cox says a good way to keep your child safe is to know the age guidelines of the toys you plan to buy."That's not just for safety concerns and choking hazards," she said. "For smaller kids, It's also for their developmental abilities."For things like bikes, skateboards, or anything else that moves, she says not to forget to buy safety equipment like helmets and kneepads. She also says if your child gets injured to immediately reach out to their pediatrician.""Immediately reached out to your child's doctor, whatever it is," she said. "If you think they swallowed a battery, if you think they've gotten splashed with the chemical or something, and it's starting to irritate their skin... you should be calling the pediatrician and seeking medical help as soon as possible.Many people are looking for ways toys stretch their budget this time of year, with buying second-hand toys being one option.Cox says if you decided to buy secondhand, you may need to take extra steps to make sure the toys you buy are safe for your kids. She says to inspect and test any secondhand toys you buy closely."Look for bite marks," she said. "Look for things that have been chewed on, or things that look like they're about to fall off, or things that are already broken. Just make sure that they're sturdy, they're in good shape. If it's got wheels on it, it's a riding toy, push it on the ground, make sure it's not going to break, or that it might already be partially broken."Parents should also expect to clean whatever toys they bring home, and different toys will require different methods."If it's a soft toy, you want to wash it in really hot water, and you want to completely dry it," Cox said. "The reason you want to do that is you don't want any hitchhikers in those soft toys to come into your home. Some type of pest sometimes, there may be fleas, there may be bedbugs, dust mites — all of that could be in soft toys."If it's a hard plastic toy, Cox says you'll want to wash it with hot water, and possibly use a sanitizing solution or disinfectant."Some of those can be tricky because they got lots of nooks and crannies," she said. "But you want to go in and make sure that you get all of that really cleaned up well."And Cox says depending on the age of the toy, you'll want to check if it contains toxic chemicals or substances like lead. "So just make sure that if you're going to take some toys and pass them along to either other family members, just make sure that they're safe," she said. Cox says parents can always go to the consumer product safety commission to check for toy recalls and violations.You can find a link to their website here.Cox also recommends checking safekids.org as another source of information on recalls. You can find a link to the website here.