Toy Libraries: did you know they exist? Within each community are these not-for-profit places that offer quality toys for a minimal annual fee (or weekly hire charge).
Honestly I don’t think I had any idea something like this existed when my kids were younger, but if I had, I would have totally taken advantage of it.
Toys are expensive, and infant’s / toddler’s / children’s attention spans are often that of a goldfish. So you might spent a lot of money on amazing toys only to find they play with them for five minutes and never look at them again.
The beauty of a Toy Library is to give each and every person the opportunity to have different types of toys available for their child.
Toy Libraries offer a range of quality toys, puzzles, games and learning activities for members to hire for a set period of time. In NZ our toy libraries mainly cater for children 0-8 years. Many libraries also stock games, puzzles, sport, musical and other play items suitable for the entire family. Some therapeutic toy libraries such as those run by CCS focus on children with special needs.
Toy Libraries are run by a group of volunteers for the benefit of children in your community. Fees vary from library to library.
The Toy Libraries are often located in public places such as your local Plunket Room – which gives you the opportunity to meet other families in the community.
Hiring not only allows you to change up the toys easily for your child, but also it is a good environmental option as you aren’t throwing the toy away.
If you’d like to find out if there is a Toy Library near you, check out the Toy Library Website.
Thank you to all of those wonderful volunteers out there who set up, run and manage each Toy Library – what you are doing is amazing for our community and families.
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