HPL’s “Toy Lending Library” – by Heidi Evans, The Evans Seven
Evans Seven is so thankful for HPL’s Toy Lending Library. When Covid-19 hit back in March 2020, my husband and I found ourselves at home with our 5 beautiful daughters. And although we were super busy with 100% remote school (times 5!), we were still on the lookout for fun things that could keep our children engaged and challenged.
A few months later (July 2020), the Toy Lending Library opened at HPL. Our little girls (age 6 and 8) were so excited. We were able to go once a week and get a new game or toy for them to enjoy. Because of Covid-19, we were limited in the activities that were available for our girls. Literally every activity they were involved in was canceled. It quickly became very boring at home.
We have borrowed many games from the Toy Lending Library, but I believe our favorite is the very first game we brought home. It was the Smart Games Little Red Riding Hood game. It was a simple game but my girls loved it. It was educational in that they had to figure out how to place the path to get Little Red Riding Hood back to her cottage before the wolf could capture her. As a parent, what I loved about this game was it had many different level–beginner all the way to expert. It was fun but you could see their brains working while they played. My two little girls played this game for hours and were able to make it to the intermediate level without help. My older girls (11 and 12) would play the game with their little sisters but I actually found them playing the harder expert levels by themselves. We had found a game that challenged almost every age group at our house!
Since then we have checked out countless games and have had countless family game nights with the toys and games from the Toy Lending Library. We are so incredibly thankful to our HPL children’s librarians and to everyone else that had a part in making the Toy Lending Library a reality. Thank you for giving our children an opportunity to learn and have some much-needed fun!
Jason and Heidi Evans
Kennedy, Addison, McKenna
Ainsley & Norra
“The Evans Seven”
January 2021