Toy Borrowing

What can people borrow?

We have a very extensive range of fun and educational toys, games, puzzles, Duplo, dressing up clothes, musical instruments, books, story sacks and much more, mainly for the under-fives. Our wide-ranging play equipment will help your child develop their creativity, curiosity, manual dexterity, literacy and numeracy skills. Developing their play skills at an early age helps to prepare them for school later on.

We also offer for hire all kinds of child safety equipment such as safety gates, fire guards, bed guards, baby baths, steam sterilisers, baby slings and much much more.

Why borrow?

Borrowing good quality toys from the Toy Library will save you money.

As the cost is very low (see below) your child will have access to a much wider range of books and play equipment.

Borrowing also means that you can change toys/books regularly without cluttering up your home so this saves on space.

And borrowing toys and books is much more environmentally friendly.

Are the toys good quality and clean?

Absolutely! Every book, every piece of play equipment and child safety equipment is checked for safety, wiped down and steam cleaned before being placed back on our shelves.

What does it cost to loan things?

We keep the borrowing fees as low as possible and the loan period is usually for two weeks at a time.

All books are absolutely free to borrow, both children’s books and adult parenting books.

A puzzle, for example, would cost 50p to borrow for two weeks. Many toys are 80p and larger toys might be £1 to borrow.

Safety equipment is often needed for longer than our general two-week loan period. So, for example, a safety gate can be loaned for £5 over a 6 month period.

All play and safety equipment loaned to our outreach families is free of charge.

How do I borrow things?

Simply browse our borrowing room, select the items you wish to borrow and head for the desk. Tell us your child’s name and we will enter the catalogue numbers of your chosen items into your child’s file.

What if I am late returning the items I loaned?

If it is less than a week we don’t charge anything at all. If you decide to keep items for longer than a week, simply pay for the extra time when you return them. If you are experiencing difficulties of any kind please just come and talk to us. Most people working and volunteering at the toy library are parents themselves and are therefore very welcoming and sympathetic.

Do I need to be a member to borrow?

Yes, you do but this is also kept at a very low cost. See our membership page for details.