The North Shore Community Toy Library in Mairangi Bay is the largest local Toy Library run by highly motivated and skilled volunteers that want to make a difference by growing our children to be resilient and integrated . We have been existing for 25 years (former North Shore Plunket Toy Library) providing generations of children with high quality education toys and being a community meeting point.

We stock over 1,500 high quality educational toys, games and puzzles for young children which can be borrowed for a small annual fee. Our Toy Library is open 3 days a week including school holidays (except Christmas, when we take a break from 15th December 2024 to 14th January 2025).

We offer:

• Access to hundreds of educational toys for young children
  (Having the opportunity to try toys before you buy them , Borrow toys that match your child's age, stage of development and interests, Borrow toys that facilitate a particular skill development in children)
• Help the environment by borrowing rather than purchasing (we save around 1,500 toys annually from landfill, high quality toys prevent use of cheap and possible toxic plastic toys that can harm particularly young children, Avoid storage issues of multiple bulky toys)
• Less financial outlay than purchasing toys which supports low income families
  (A family in NZ spend an average of $400-$600 per child per year on toys, a quality toy can cost between $100-$600 which is not affordable for many families)
• Community connection
  (An opportunity to meet other families in the community and network, Volunteer opportunities to upskill and also integrate, connection and inclusion of elderlies, youth and immigrants)

Our main focus is to offer educational quality toys to young children, however, over the past years our role has become more comprehensive and we are now strongly focussing on inclusion into the community. We are offering inclusion for children from low income families giving them the same educational opportunities. We furthermore pride ourselves in connecting and integrating students, retirees and new migrants into our society allowing for a more resilient community.

Joining is easy

If you like to join us you can either just walk in during our opening hours or sign up online. We need you to fill out the sign up form, and email us a signed to copy to librarian.nsctl@gmail.com together with a proof of ID (NZ drivers license or any passport). Or you can fill it out when coming in. The payment can be done via bank transfer (we will advise you with the payment details). Once this is all received we will set up your membership and you are ready to loan your first toys. If you are having any questions please reach out.

Standard Opening Hours:

Wednesday 6.30 pm - 8.30pm
Saturday 9.30 am - 12.00 pm
Sunday 2.00 pm - 4.30pm
- we are open during school holidays, we are closed over the Easter weekend and the Christmas holidays (we take a break from 15th December 2024 to 14 January 2025)

We welcome your queries through our Facebook page, 021 0286 3072 or on librarian.nsctl@gmail.com. See you down at the library soon!