About
What is a Toy Library?
At a toy library you can borrow from a vast array of well-made toys that have been designed to support your child’s skill development and imagination. Toy libraries aim to support families and encourage togetherness with quality time spent playing with children.
These are some of the main features you can expect from a toy library:
- Provide quality educational items for loan.
- Are inexpensive (usually an annual subscription is charged).
- Cater for children of all ages, principally for the 0-12 age group.
- Have a range of items covering all stages of growth and development.
- Provide an opportunity to meet other caregivers to share concerns, interact with others and make new friends.
- Help parents and carers learn about the ages and stages of child development.
History of the Cairns Toy Library
Toy Libraries have been operating in Cairns, in one form or another, since the mid-1980s. As local families grew and changed, so did the popularity of the Toy Library. This included the umbrella body that managed the Toy Library, as well as the premises from which we operated out of.
In November 2019 we became Cairns Region Toy Library Inc, operating toy libraries in Cairns and Atherton with assistance and guidance from Toy Libraries Australia, the peak body for over 280 not-for-profit toy libraries across Australia.
In September 2021 the Cairns branch moved from a tiny space at the PCYC – where we squeezed about 800 toys into an area half the size of a car garage – to a larger leasehold property at 208 Pease Street, Manoora.
Our main building is about 70m2, and our storage and repairs shed is another 20m2. Ultimately, we will need about 350m2 to accommodate the toys required to service our projected growth, which based on similar populations in regional areas, should be around 400 families.
Committee Members
All our Committee Members are volunteers who love contributing to our local community. If you have skills and time to offer and would like to volunteer in a fun, supportive environment, get in touch to find out more about joining the Toy Library Committee.
Gemma Knox
I've been a member since late 2019 and a committee member since 2022. I originally joined the toy library because I'm huge advocate for reduced waste, but I love it for so many more reasons now. I especially enjoy being apart of a valuable service for local families. Importantly my kids also love the toy library - they love the community it provides as much as the toys. My kids gladly come to all my volunteer sessions - who doesn't want free reign to rampage around a toy library...
Megan Merritt
Megan is the Membership Coordinator at the toy library. Megan has been a member since 2022 and has a 2 year old daughter. Megan is a Diploma qualified early childhood educator who currently works for Goodstart Early learning. Megan looks forward to meeting you and your family soon.
