Minnesota Toy Library

Invest in a future where families reduce waste and toy costs with the Minnesota Toy Library!

Families in the United States spend nearly $600 per year on toys for their children. Each of these new toys consumes energy and materials, creates packaging and product waste, and often involve the expelling of manufacturing toxins into the air. 

How can the Minnesota Toy Library help?

The Minnesota Toy Library offers families access to a vast selection of developmentally appropriate toys to bring home to borrow that eliminates the need for new toys to be created and purchased. 

This year, our goal is to raise $7,500 to solidify the Minnesota Toy Library's future as an enduring community asset for a growing number of children and families.

Reducing Waste and Consumption

* By borrowing instead of buying new, you reduce waste and keep unused toys out of the landfills.

* Ninety percent of our toys have been donated, which keeps the need for purchasing new toys very low, keeps toys out of the landfill and repeatedly into the hands of children.

* The toy library extends the life of toys by allowing them to be borrowed over and over. Our first toy in our Dramatic Play section, a cash register, has been borrowed 59 times!

* When a toy's end of life does come, we provide options for the broken toys to be recycled. 

Encouraging Play-Based Development

*Ninety percent of brain growth happens before children enter Kindergarten. 

*Our collection of toys promotes development, helping children grow through play.

*The Minnesota Toy Library stocks a diverse variety of toys targeted at children in this age range, including adaptive toys.

Building Community

* The toy library has brought together over 1,300 families into a community that care for the development of children, the future of our planet, and each other.

* The toy library makes toys accessible to everyone, regardless of financial background. Your support helps break down barriers and create a place where every child can thrive. 

* The toy library community is made up of parents, grandparents, neighbors, educators and more. 

*The Minnesota Toy Library plays an important role in our member's lives and fills a dynamic need in the community, as evidenced by its continued to growth for the last 10 years.

Your gift, of any amount, will support the growth and impact of the toy library on the environment and local families.

Your donation can:

$25 - Support the purchase of a new toy 

$50 - Fund broken toy recycling programs

$75 - Purchase an adaptive toy for our inventory

$100 - Support the toy library scholarship fund, providing memberships to those facing financial barriers

$150 - Support community outreach and engagement

Thank you for helping support sustainable play for families in Minnesota!