You may regularly attend your local library, but have you heard about toy libraries?

There is often little known about them in the community and in parenting circles. If people do know of them, they aren’t always utilised or used regularly.

They are manned by wonderful, dedicated volunteers who are passionate about seeing families benefit from borrowing a variety of toys. Many council areas offer the service located in the library, although the cost, range, details and opening hours vary slightly.

Five Reasons To Sign Up For A Toy Library Membership:

1. They Are Affordable

Toy libraries are affordable! It only costs $35 a year for our local one. This allows you to borrow three items per child and unlimited puzzles. Some are a little more or less, and others are free to join! When you consider how much a Fisher Price toy from Target or a lovely European wooden one costs, it makes so much sense to borrow them.

At times I have had something on a wish list to buy, held off and found it at the toy library, and then realised it wasn’t something I wanted to purchase. It might have had too many loose parts, batteries always needed replacing, taking up lots of space, being noisy or simply keeping the interest for a short period of time or stage of development.

Rather than constantly buying new toys, or even second-hand ones, you could buy a few favourites and borrow the rest. You could include this as part of your annual budget or even ask for it as a present idea for your child.

2. The Ultimate Toy Rotation

Toy libraries are the ultimate toy rotation. Regularly rotating toys at home is a good idea. Casey from Little Lifelong Learners is a brilliant advocate of this. She has plenty of ideas for play on her website and Instagram. Children have a limited amount to see in their space and aren’t overwhelmed with options. One item in every cube or basket is there to play with.

Children make do with what they have, allowing their imagination and creativity to kick in. They rarely get bored with the toys because they are swapped out for others every week or two. You can choose a few from your collection alongside some from the library.

Regularly rotating toys keep items fresh and children excited about their play. You can choose items specific to their current interest, schema or stage of development and not have to spend huge amounts of money to do so. You can re borrow favourite toys throughout the year and watch your child delight in discovering them again.

3. The Range Is Incredible

You might be amazed at the range that toy libraries offer. My first few experiences of the toy library were spent trying to convince my toddler to stop driving around in a little car so I barely went past the first lot of shelves. When I finally went by myself one night, I couldn’t believe the incredible range.

We can borrow hundreds of puzzles, dress-ups, puppets and sensory play. There are dolls houses, animals, musical instruments and cars. Board games, literacy and numeracy activities. Fine and gross motor, plastic and wooden, imaginative play. There are walkers, activity tables and jumpers.

Big items for parties can be reserved for a small fee like coloured balls, Little Tikes cars, basketball rings, wobble boards, and even jumpy castles! I have seen a small crate filled with reusable cups and plates. I love wandering the aisles slowly on the evening my local is open, browsing the hundreds of items free to borrow. It excites me about the possibilities of play awaiting my children.

4. You Don’t Need To Own As Much

When you own a toy library membership, you don’t need to own as many toys. Seriously, if you borrow every week or fortnight, there is no reason to keep as many. This saves money and space in your house. Downsize to keep the favourites.

For example, we had a Tupperware shape sorter in our collection for four years. We didn’t use it that often but I thought it was a useful one to own. One day it hit me. We could donate it, instead opting to borrow a range of shape sorters throughout the year that would stimulate our children’s interest and develop their skills. I realised how many items like this we had that I simply did not need to keep myself.

This has enabled me to declutter dozens of toys. I’m trying to put more boundaries in place about what comes into our house on a permanent basis.

5. Reduces The Environmental Impact

By utilising our local toy library, we buy fewer items and send fewer into landfills. We consume less. Right now, if humans stopped making and purchasing toys, and instead relied on borrowing, donating and sharing the ones we have, I’m sure there would be plenty to go around. We just do not need to own it all ourselves.

If not for money-saving or space-saving reasons, please consider your carbon footprint and the impact on the environment when more toys get made. The plastic cost takes so much to produce and thousands of years to break down in landfill. The trees fell to produce beautiful wooden toys.

The people often work in terrible conditions in factories to make items for children to play with. We can reduce this unnecessary burden on the environment by simply consuming less.

I wish I had known more about toy libraries when my eldest was a baby. I knew they existed but didn’t think I needed it. I simply didn’t know how much they stocked, the range for parties, outdoor equipment, and for engaging older children too.

I now go there every week or two, sometimes with a toddler and preschooler in tow, other times for some rare alone time to browse and borrow. Ours is open late one day a week and for this, I am so grateful. I’m still in awe of how many items there are on the shelves. There is almost no reason to go out and buy toys or games when we have such wonderful resources at our fingertips.

If you haven’t signed up to become a member, I strongly encourage you to check it out! It has enabled us to save money, reduce our environmental impact and own less stuff all at once. The more of us who can sign up, the better-resourced these libraries can become. You can search for your local toy library here.

Memberships can be purchased for a family member as a gift idea, especially when you’re running out of ideas. Grandparents can benefit from signing up too, rather than feeling pressure to own and store lots of toys themselves.

It has been a game changer for our family, and hope it can be for yours too.

For more information on toy libraries or inspiration about what they offer, head to the Toy Libraries Australia website or Instagram. I post about our local toy library on Instagram.

Melanie Wegener