In an open letter, campaigners are calling on Welsh Government to introduce a network of toy libraries in Wales.

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales have joined with other organisations to support a joint initiative by Friends of the Earth Cymru, Early Years Wales and The Honeycomb Toy Library in Cardiff.

On average, parents and carers spend over £430 on toys for their children every year. Toy libraries can help save families money by providing a range of fun and educational toys, puzzles and games to borrow or hire for a minimal fee.

Toy libraries can reduce household clutter and are better for the planet, encouraging a culture of reduce, reuse and recycle. Consuming fewer (mainly plastic) toys will mean fewer toys are thrown away and end up in landfill sites. This means we use less plastic and – even if only in a small way – we lower our climate emissions too.

Friends of the Earth Cymru spokesperson Bleddyn Lake said:

“Toy libraries are great for saving families money. They can also help children have access to toys and games that they might not otherwise be able to afford.

“We know that kids can get bored of toys quite quickly and lots of toys nowadays are actually poorly made plastic ones which don’t always last very long anyway.

“Toy libraries have been immensely popular across the border in England for many years already but here in Wales we only have a handful. We feel there is a real opportunity here for Welsh Government to bring together experts and relevant organisations in Wales to work out a plan to develop a new network of toy libraries in Wales thereby helping save families money as well as contributing to the Welsh circular economy.”

Toy libraries can…

  • give children access toys that they might otherwise not encounter due to cost or even space limitations at home.
  • save families lots of money by enabling them to borrow toys each week rather than buying them. This is obviously particularly welcome in these times where the cost of living has gone through the roof.
  • help spark a child’s imagination. A wide variety of toys can enable them to have a greater range of play experiences that contribute to their development.
  • act as a community hub, bringing parents and carers of young children together. Some toy libraries are held in existing community spaces where there is a possibility for parents to grab a cuppa and chat to other parents. This in itself can help create lasting friendships and community connections.
  • they can be hosted in places such as community centres or even in book lending libraries which in turn might help to support them if they are faced with the prospect of closure through council spending cuts.
  • help prevent clutter. As kids work their way through more and more toys, games, puzzles etc, homes can get more and more cluttered. Simply borrowing or hiring some toys can help reduce some of this clutter on an ongoing basis.
  • And, of course, they also help (even if it’s only just in a relatively small way) reduce our use of plastic, reduce the amount of stuff going to landfill and reduce some climate emissions.

Maia Banks, owner and founder of The Honeycomb Toy Library in Cardiff said:

“Toy libraries have the great combined strengths of building community for young families and promoting environmentally friendly practices from an early age. The ethos of my own toy library in Cardiff is 'building community through play' and that's what I strive to do at every session. The ability to borrow toys, especially costly ones that many families just can't afford to own outright, is one of the great benefits of toy libraries. But the other side of them is that they offer an easy and low-cost way to get to know other families in their community. There is no formal structure or ‘plan’ for any given toy library session, but rather the open-ended invitation to play, both with each other, and with the toys in the library. And if your child ends up really liking the toy they are playing with, well, they can take it home with them for extended play. The idea that we don't have to ‘own’ something to enjoy it is an important lesson to learn, both for ourselves and for our environment.”

Toys and plastic

Worldwide, we currently produce more than 350 million metric tons of plastic waste per year. If we don’t address this, it is predicted to triple by 2060, to a staggering one billion metric tons.

With most plastic being made from oil, it is estimated that unless we do something about it, by 2050, plastic could account for around 20 per cent of all global oil consumption.

Quite clearly toy libraries won’t address the entire problem, but they do have a small part to play.

Leo Holmes, Head of Policy and Advocacy, Early Years Wales said:

“Toy Libraries are a great way of investing in our social justice goals here in Wales. From providing families in need with support to help their children experience all the benefits of play, to the environmental benefits of reducing waste, a network of toy libraries across Wales will be a huge asset to communities.”