The Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library is a volunteer-run cooperative. We operate an indoor play space with drop-in play sessions several times per week that are open to the public. We also offer memberships with access to our play space outside of public hours and access to our lending collection of toys for home use.
Click here to learn more about our drop-in, public play sessions.
Party rentals are available to both members and non-members.
We offer public play sessions every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday morning as well as Monday late afternoons. Please see our full calendar or more information.
We will be closed for all member and public hours from January 5th, 2025 to January 11th, 2025 for construction in our playspace.
See Visit Us for More Details, including information on members-only access to our play space.
*As always, our hours are dependent upon volunteer availability. Please check our Facebook page for any last-minute changes!
PTLL's entirely volunteer-run Board is working hard to improve the toy library experience for our community!
We are working on:
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Replacing the flooring in the play space
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Adding many more toys to the lending collection
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Adding toys to put on the floor for public sessions, including language-learning toys funded by Duolingo!
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and much more!
We are participating in Pittsburgh Magazine's Give Big Pittsburgh, a 24-hour online fundraising effort that raises money for local nonprofits through a single online donation platform! Click below to support our play space and lending library improvements!
Give Big Pittsburgh!
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In an effort to enrich our toy offerings both on the floor and in our lending library, we have created a registry so that community members or community leaders or organizations who are able, could support us with the purchase of a toy or other small items we regularly use, such as cleaning supplies! Every little bit helps! Please check out our registry on the link below, and if you know someone who may want to help also, please share the link widely! Thank you for supporting us!
Help PTLL refresh its toy catalog!
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Who We Are
Established in 1974, the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library is one of the oldest continuously operating toy libraries in the United States. We lend toys for home use, in addition to operating an indoor play space.
The PTLL began as, and remains, a 100% volunteer-run cooperative. Without our hardworking, dedicated volunteer-members, we would not exist. The PTLL belongs to all of us, and everyone belongs here.
Play matters at all ages and stages, but our focus is early childhood. We primarily serve families with children from birth through kindergarten.
The toy library is a space where parents and caregivers of young children come together as they navigate this stage of life. We connect with each other in joy and in struggle. We share wisdom, support, and commiseration. We recognize that play is how our children learn, grow, and develop. Play is how our children process their feelings, confront their fears, and start to make sense of the world.
Play Matters. Support Matters. Community Matters.
Upcoming Events
All families belong at the PTLL.
The Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library is committed to pursuing equity and inclusion. Our space must demonstrate this by enthusiastically and explicitly welcoming all families -- especially BIPOC families, low-income families, families that include LGBTQIA+ members, families that include disabled members, and other families who may be excluded, overtly or implicitly, from some places and communities.
If you have suggestions for ways that we can strive to make the PTLL a more inclusive space (physically, virtually, broadly, or specifically), we would be thrilled and grateful if you are willing to share your input. If you would like to share your ideas publicly but anonymously, we have created a Google Jamboard for this purpose. If you would like to share privately and anonymously, we encourage you to use our virtual suggestion box. If you would like to share publicly with your identity attached, we welcome you to sign your Jamboard comments and/or engage with us on social media.
Black Lives Matter, and we encourage you to support Black-owned businesses in the Pittsburgh area.