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6th January 2020
05:31pm GMT
Tiding up the house for Christmas made me realise something - my children have way too many toys.
It didn't help that I knew full well that between myself, Santa and other family members the number of toys was about to seriously increase.
In addition to creating clutter, toys are expensive especially if you have more than one child.
That's why I think the concept of a toy library is brilliant. It cuts down on the amount of plastic being brought into homes and it also helps with the financial cost of buying new toys for parents.
The toy library was founded by moms Molly Stern and Taryn Tessneer who say that their mission is to 'reduce waste, foster development and make high-quality toys accessible to families all over the Minneapolis community'.
While the toy library started as a mobile programme, it has now found a permanent home at Richfield Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B688xMBHmfj/
Playing is an important part of a child's brain development and having free places where parents can go with their children to interact with toys and other children is essential.
Playgroups are great but they are not always in everyone's price range which is why programmes like this are key.
Recently, libraries in Dublin started a new scheme where children could borrow musical instruments from their local branch and it would be great to see this extended further to include toys.
