Rent, don’t buy – Ireland’s first toy rental club has opened and here is how it works

Trying to be tidy and live a more minimal life is no easy task when you have little people in your house.

Children might not be very big in the physical sense of the word, but my goodness, they sure do come with a lot of stuff. And by stuff, I mean toys. Everywhere. On every surface. Under the furniture. And on it. In baskets, boxes and containers. So. Many. Toys. And yet – as I am sure we have all experienced – they play with a certain toy for a while, then tire of that toy and move on to the next. And so it goes. And eventually, you'll find you can barely remember what your floor looks like under all those train tracks and blocks and dolls and tiny cars and puzzles. Sounds familiar? I think we are all in the same (extremely cluttered) boat. However, now an Irish mum has taken matters into her own hands and has launched Ireland's very first toy rental club – designed to not only allow your child have access to new, age-appropriate toys every month, but that will also minimize your clutter and save you money in the process. Founded by husband-and-wife team, Didier and Jenel Sanders, Clever Tots Toy Club was born from their experience as new parents working and living in Dubai, where they happened upon a sustainable toy-rental service. Moving back home to Ireland at the start of the pandemic, prompted the young couple to start their own business, when they couldn’t source a similar service here. “The whole premise of Clever Tots Toy Club is to provide a more sustainable way for caregivers and children to enjoy their toys within the home environment," explains Sanders about the toy subscription service. "We know from our own experience that the monthly toy delivery will create beautiful moments of joy with little ones as they unbox their toys with excitement and wonder. While parents will be provided with our new ‘Ways to Play’ developmental guides. We believe that the Clever Tots Toy Club membership will inspire parents to spend even more quality pockets of time playing with their young children. After all, for children – play is the school of life." Priced at €39.99 a month with discounts for purchases of 3, 6 and 12-month memberships, parents will save an average of €60 a month using Clever Tots Toy Club compared to if they had bought the toys. The time saved cleaning up endless amounts of toys and the reduction of old toys to be sent to a landfill – priceless. Members of the Clever Tots Toy Club will also benefit from additional online and video resources designed to support their child’s growth and development from experts in their field. The monthly toy box delivery includes a set of four carefully chosen, age-appropriate toys, that are replaced each month to avoid fatigue and provide new learning opportunities through play. Designed to stimulate the developmental needs of young babies and children, the toy club membership encourages parents to engage in their child’s world of play where they can learn new skills every day. All of the toys supplied through the Clever Tots Toy Club have been selected based on their quality, their child developmental potential, along with strict sustainable and ethical production factors. The environmentally friendly Clever Tots Toy Club then recycles and reuses the toys across its membership base with its monthly toy replacement model. Each toy is hygienically sanitised using an eco-friendly cleaning solution approved for use with children, followed by an ozone gas treatment to eliminate any possibility of remaining bacteria or viruses. “Play is central to a child’s physical, cognitive, language, sensory, social and emotional development," explains child neuro-developmental expert Ollwyn Moran. "The different types of play that a child engages in are all important, as each serves a different purpose in their neuro-development, creating vital connections that shape their brain.” He continues: “The toys I have chosen for each age range of development within the Clever Tots Toy Club, have been purposefully selected to provide the optimum stimulation and learning opportunities for each child. The toy sets designed and delivered for each specific age and stage, will inspire parents to support and will motivate children to try and reach for new skills.” “During the period from birth to age three, a child’s brain will experience the biggest period of development in their life, producing more than a million neural connections each second," Moran reveals. "The Clever Tots Toy Club is perfectly timed, with toy sets created for members from 3-months to 3-years to encourage fun playtime that will help them on their way to achieving each major and minor developmental milestone."