Entertain Your Kids With A Toy-Sharing Subscription

We’re entering the season of boredom. The holidays are over and many of us are staring ahead into at least a few months of less-than-ideal weather, our kids are inside more, which means they’re bored.

Yes, they probably just got a whole bunch of new toys during the holidays and yes, you’re still going to hit a point where you wish they had something new to switch things up and distract them during an unexpected heat wave. And yet, they Do Not Need Any More Stuff.

But you could borrow something for a while. Enter: the toy-sharing subscription service. According to Pinterest, toy-sharing became something of a trend in 2018, with searches for “toy-sharing subscriptions” up 313 per cent.

Benefits of toy-sharing subscriptions

• The cost to rent the toys is cheaper than outright buying them.

• It’s a chance to try out toys you might not want to fully invest in.

• Less giant plastic waste in our landfills.

• You can target their developmental age for educational toys that are perfect for them right now.

• They get mail! Everyone loves getting mail!

• If they get totally hooked on a particular toy, you can still purchase it.

Here are a couple to check out:

Green Piñata Toys

For $36 a month and geared toward kids ages 6 months to 5 years, you can choose up to four toys in a box. Select your toys, play, purchase whatever you can’t part with, return the rest and wait for your next box. You can check out the toy catalogue, which boasts that “all of our toys are free of chemicals, made from sustainably sourced wood or recycled plastic, and have been produced in an eco-conscious environment.”

Toy Library

You pick 2 toys per monthly shipment for infants to age 10. Basic plans start at $30 per month and go up depending on the value of the toys. The company has a library of more than 500 toys to choose from, and they can make recommendations for your child based on play preferences. All toys, according to Toy Library, are cleaned with “ultrasonic baths” and wooden toys are cleaned with “non-toxic, environmentally friendly, anti-bacterial wipes.”

Alternatively, if you want fewer toys but more stuff for them to do, try an activity-based subscription:

Little Passports

Aimed at inspiring kids to learn about places all around the world, Little Passports offers different options for ages 3-12. Early explorers (ages 3-5) receive kits with themes like music, ocean or dinosaurs. Kids ages 6-10 can learn about a new country each month, and kids ages 7-12 learn about 2 new states each month. Kids 9+ can sign up for monthly science experiments and activities.

KiwiCo

KiwiCo sends monthly “crates” filled with science and art activities. Choose a crate based on age or interest, such as the “play and learn” crate for kids ages 3-4 years old, science and art for ages 5-8 or geography and culture for ages 6-11. There are a variety of crates for tweens and teens (art and design, science and engineering, or engineering and design). Each kit contains all the supplies needed for each activity, and according to KiwiCo’s website, the activities are created by engineers, educators and actual rocket scientists.

Spangler Science Club

Aimed at “young scientists” ages 5-12, you can pick from “starter,” “lab” and “deluxe” editions that vary based on difficulty level and amount of STEM activities included.