"TOO MANY TOYS!" The TOY LIBRARY

Most parents can attest to the reality that along with children- come toys.  First all the baby gear and then toys, and then even more toys.  Babies become children so quickly.  And with every age, you need different toys to stimulate, entertain and teach them.  Before you know it, your house is FULL of toys.  And it's often a mess. There is a book called, "Too Many Toys" written by David Shannon.  I enjoy it because the mother in the story reminds me of myself- though we don't really have "too many toys" yet. Children really only stay interested in each toy for a few months at most, and then they
move onto a different toy.  And these changes are all part of learning and growing- which is the exact inspiration and theme of why I started this blog in the first place.  "Learning to Grow, Growing to Learn".

Recently I learned about the Toy Library here in Rochester, NY.  We have been visiting our local library on a weekly basis ever since lady genevieve turned 1 year old.  We love the story time on Wednesday mornings, geared toward toddlers.  Miss Kathy, one of the children's librarians is wonderful.  She knows lady genevieve and lord Alastair by name, which makes me enjoy our time there even more.  So lady genevieve has a little friend named Esther and her grandmother told us about the Toy Library at the Lincoln Branch library in the city.
So what is the Toy Library?  A place to check out and borrow toys!  The Toy Library at the Lincoln Branch exceeded my expectations.  There are so many toys.  There are many toys intended for play while visiting the Toy Library, and even more to check out and take home for up to 3 weeks.  Each child is allowed to check out up to 9 toys at a time.  At the entrance, there are themed activity backpacks that come with a bag of books related to that particular theme.  Our first visit, we picked up the Farm themed backpack & books.  There were puzzles, farm animal figures, a magnetic activity board, stamps, lincoln log farm, block puzzles and more.  This week we picked out a wooden alphabet puzzle, a magnetic dress up doll, zoo animal figures and picture plates.  We were there for a hour and a half, and I am not sure where the time went.

I have been thinking about doing a post about the Lincoln Toy Library since our first visit a few weeks ago.  There is not a lot of information that I could find online or photos to show what it looks like.  Though when I first started looking into it, I found that it is a national movement and there are TOY LIBRARIES all across the country.  I found this Toy Library history about the Lincoln Branch today.  If you are local and have children, I highly encourage you to visit the Toy Library.  I am so impressed and so grateful for this wonderful resource that is 100% free to us.  It is and will continue to be a place we visit monthly.