BENEFITS OF A TOY LIBRARY

Imagine if toys could talk about what fun they have had, the chatter and laughter they experience as they get passed from kid to kid around Palmy. If you’re like me as a parent you never imagined how many toys you would accumulate with having kids and also how quickly they get bored of a toy. Honestly some weeks my kids play with a toy every day and by the next week they’re over it and it sits lonely on a shelf or on the floor to be stood on during the day.

Joining a toy library has been such a game changer for us the past 2 years. Now instead of hundreds of toys, we have 3 new toys each week or two and we have some key toys that we own. I also keep a few toys out in our garage which I rotate to keep them interested.

Not only will joining a toy library help your kids have a regular variety of toys, it helps you save money by spending less money buying your kids toys. There’s many subscription options at the Manawatu Toy Library for people who just want to try it out for a few months to a year.

The toy library is like a regular library but with toys instead of books. Members pay a subscription and some of them volunteer, although this is not a requirement.

The toy-lending movement was born during the Great Depression — a Californian discount-store operator saw a way children could play with toys their parents couldn’t afford. The concept took off in Europe over the next century and, in 1976, the idea came to the Manawatū and a toy library was established in Palmerston North. Today, New Zealand has more than 220 toy libraries.

Toy libraries give kids the opportunity to progress through different developmental stages and interests in a financially and environmentally friendly way. Families can choose and borrow a new selection of toys every week or fortnight, as frequently as you wish, and for a very reasonable membership fee.

Here’s a bit from the Manawatu Toy Library’s facebook page:

“We are an environmentally friendly, money saving, community building way to make sure you always have new and engaging toys for your whānau / tamariki. We rely on volunteers, grants, donations and our membership fees to