Eastside Toy Library is a non-profit organisation based at 332 Linwood Avenue, Woolston, Christchurch, run by a volunteer committee alongside a part-time Kaitiaki, with support from the community, members and their families. It holds over 680 good quality, educational toys available for hire at a low membership cost, catering to children from birth until approximately 8 years of age.
The library is funded through membership subscriptions, grants, and income from fundraising. Its approach is grounded in the idea that play is the gold standard for learning in a child's first 8 years — a membership gives families the tools and toys to provide varied, purposeful play experiences, with toys and resources specifically selected to hold children's engagement over extended periods of play.
Eastside Toy Library is open Saturdays from 10:30am to 1pm, and can be reached by email at [email protected], or via Facebook and Instagram.
Eastside Toy Library, based at 332 Linwood Avenue in Woolston, Christchurch, is a non-profit run by a small volunteer committee and a part-time Kaitiaki, built to give local families access to good quality, educational toys without the cost of buying them all outright.
The library holds more than 680 educational toys available for hire at a low membership cost, catering to children from birth up to around 8 years of age. Rather than a random collection, the toys and resources are specifically selected to hold children's engagement over extended periods of purposeful play.
Eastside Toy Library's philosophy is straightforward: play is the gold standard for learning in a child's first 8 years. A membership gives whānau the tools and toys to provide varied play experiences at home, supporting the kind of exploration, experimentation and problem-solving that underpins Te Whāriki, New Zealand's early childhood curriculum, and increasingly features in junior primary classrooms too.
The toy collection spans a wide range of categories, each reflecting a different kind of learning through play. There's Arts & Visual Learning (Toi me te akoranga atāta) for creative and fine motor development, Baby & Toddler Toys (Taonga tākaro pēpi) for the very youngest members, and Construction & Building (Waihanga) for block-based problem solving. Costumes (Kākahu) and Imaginative & Small World Play (Takaro Pohewa) support storytelling and emotional development, while Role Play (Toi Whakāri) and Music (Tāonga Puoro) round out the creative and expressive side of the collection.
For more active play, there's Outdoor Toys (Hākinakina) and Ride On Toys (Waka), plus Sand & Water Play (Onepū me wai). Puzzles & Games (Pangahono me kēmu) build teamwork and turn-taking, STEM (Pūtaiao, hangarau, pūkaha me te pangarau) introduces early science, technology, engineering and maths concepts, and Trucks, Trains & Vehicles (Taraka tereina me ngā waka) taps into the natural curiosity many children have about how things work.
Eastside Toy Library is kept running by a committee of volunteers alongside a part-time Kaitiaki, funded through membership subscriptions, grants, and fundraising income. The team includes a Chairperson/Secretary, Treasurer, Health & Safety lead, and volunteers who specialise in repairing wooden toys, wheels and electronics — the kind of behind-the-scenes work that keeps a large shared toy collection in good condition. The library is always on the lookout for more people to get involved, describing it simply as many hands making light work.
Eastside Toy Library is open Saturdays from 10:30am to 1pm. Off-street parking is available in the Linwood Resource Centre carpark — use the driveway on the left before the Toy Library. The team can be reached by email at [email protected], and the library keeps in touch with members and the wider community through Facebook and Instagram.
For Christchurch families wanting to give their children a wide variety of play experiences without a house full of toys, Eastside Toy Library offers a practical, community-run alternative — a Saturday morning visit, a membership, and access to a rotating collection built specifically around how young children learn best.