Toy Library Membership

There are many services provided by local councils to help parents throughout Victoria. One of my favourite is the Toy Library. I believe Toy Libraries exist in many suburbs and that many children (rich and poor) benefited from them.

Toy libraries provide their members a selection of top quality toys to use at home. The children are welcome to come in and select a toy, or their parents may pick something for them as a surprise to take home. The toys are not just any old licensed product. The selection that I have seen in my work was rather impressive. I have seen wooden puzzles and games that one would normally find in the catalogues of top quality toy shops like Windmill. There were sandpit toys, trucks, baby’s toys, dollhouses and wooden toys. These are the kind of toys seen in many kindergartens or day care centres. A few girls that I have looked after have also borrowed pieces of wooden ‘furniture’ (e.g. wooden oven, wooden ‘hills’ hoist, wooden ironing board with wooden iron) to add to their home-corner at home. There were also some ‘big ticketed’ items by brands such as Little Tikes and Step 2. These items include the popular Little Tikes Cosy Coupe, Little Tikes kitchens, small slides for young toddlers and walker wagons. Mind you, access to a station wagon or 4WD would be handy to take these big toys home.

Children go through various stages of development in the first six years of life. They are interested in different things as they grow. On top of food, clothes and shoes, parents are spending a lot of money equipping their little ones with the latest range of toys and other modern day ‘necessities’. Over time, a household with 3 children may end up looking like they have enough toys and other items to operate their own childcare business. (Do take this lightly. I do know that regulations exist to control the quality and management of child care centres.) This is why I personally think a toy library membership is such a good idea for those of us who are budget conscious. Rather than buying every single popular item on the market, parents can borrow them from the library. There are enough toys at the toy library to suit children at different developmental stages and choosing a different item each visit gives each child the variety that he/she couldn’t get bored of. Parents also have the opportunity to choose particular items (e.g. big ticketed items) for trial at home to see if their children really like them before deciding to buy. This way, if an item is not popular, it can be returned to the library and no one will have to regret buying the item in the first place. Imagine the $$ saved. For parents who do not live in ‘mansions’ sitting on large blocks, there will always be ample space for the children to use different items without having to worry too much about (long term) storage.

Now, many parents are very concerned about germs and infections. Imagine a baby putting a toy that you borrowed from the toy library into his/her mouth. Please don’t put off joining a toy library by what you just read. I have been told that members are supposed to clean each item before returning them. I have also been told that volunteers keep the toys clean. If parents are still worried they can be triply sure by disinfecting the items they have borrowed once they get home. Just be mindful that the little ones do not begin playing with the chemicals (Spray & Wipe, Domestos, PineOCleen) while you are concentrating on the cleaning.

I always suggest toy libraries to the families that I work for. A few parents are put off by the idea because members (parents) are expected to volunteer to help run the library. Some parents I know have heavy work schedules on weekdays and would dearly wish to stay at home or go to the country on their weekend so as to spend quality time with the children. Volunteering a few hours shouldn’t be a problem to SAHMs or mums who work part-time. One parent I know used to hand her kids over to her husband one Saturday each month to man the toy library with another member. I praised her for that arrangement because the children got to spend time with Dad alone. He would buckle the children into the pusher made for jogging and take them for a run, or buckle them into a ‘trailer’ attached to his bike for an outing. I think even dads can volunteer at the toy libraries. They come in handy to help move the big toys. For anyone in the local community who is good at fixing things, I was told that toy libraries gladly welcome their help to fix broken toys.