Episode 2: Supporting families through play
- Aug 4
- 8 min read
How can play support families beyond therapy and appointments? In episode two of The Toy Library Effect podcast, Karen Dimmock, Kerry Dominish, Tofu Naitoko and Danni Menzies explore how toy libraries help reduce pressure on families, support child-led development and create opportunities for connection.
Listen now:
In this episode
Why supporting families means supporting play in everyday life
The realities families face when raising children with disability or developmental differences
How child-led play builds confidence, connection and learning
The role toy libraries play in making quality play more accessible and affordable
How toy libraries help families feel supported, connected and less alone
Episode overview
Families raising children with disability or developmental differences often navigate appointments, therapies and everyday challenges while trying to make time for the simple joy of play. This episode explores how toy libraries can support families by making quality play experiences more accessible, affordable and flexible.
Karen Dimmock, Kerry Dominish, Tofu Naitoko and Danni Menzies share insights from lived experience and professional practice, discussing the importance of child-led play, reducing barriers to participation and creating opportunities for connection, confidence and belonging.
The episode highlights how toy libraries work alongside families, allied health professionals and communities to support children's development beyond appointments and through everyday play.
Meet our guests
Penny Johnston
Podcast host
Penny Johnston is an experienced Australian broadcaster and podcast host, best known for her work with ABC Radio and the Babytalk podcast. In The Toy Library Effect, she speaks with families, toy library leaders and child development professionals about the power of play, connection and community.
Karen Dimmock
CEO, ACD (Advocating for Children with
Disabilities)
Karen Dimmock is the Chief Executive Officer of ACD (Association for Children with a Disability), a Victorian not-for-profit organisation led by and for families of children with disability. With more than 20 years' experience in the community sector, Karen is a passionate advocate for children and families, drawing on both her professional expertise and lived experience as the parent of a young person with disability.
Kerry Dominish
Speech pathologist and Early Ed CEO
Kerry Dominish is a speech pathologist and Chief Executive Officer of EarlyEd, bringing decades of experience across the early childhood intervention, disability and health sectors. She is passionate about supporting children through evidence-based, family-centred practice and believes the best outcomes are achieved when families and professionals work together as a team around each child.
Tofu Naitoko
Springvale Toy Library
Tofu Naitoko is Team Leader of Support Services at Springvale Service for Children, home to the Springvale Toy Library. A passionate advocate for inclusion, she works to reduce barriers to play through community partnerships and initiatives that help children of all abilities access quality toys and welcoming community spaces.
Danni Menzies
Grovedale Toy Library member
Transcript
Episode 2: Today's toy library - more than just toys
Welcome to the Toy Library Effect podcast, brought to you by Toy Libraries Australia. My name is Penny Johnston and I'm your host for this series of five episodes.
In this series, we're exploring how toy libraries support children's development, strengthen communities, and work alongside families and professionals to make play more accessible. Today, you'll hear what the experience of raising a child with a developmental delay or disability in Australia is really like.
The emotional load, the financial strain, the constant juggling and how access to play can make everyday life feel a little lighter. We'll hear from Karen Dimmock from ACD (Advocating for Children with Disabilities), speech pathologist and early Ed CEO Kerry Dominish from Sydney, Tofu Naitoko from the Springvale Toy Library, and Danni Menzies, a member from Grovedale Toy Library in Victoria.
When people think about developmental delay or disability, they often focus on appointments, therapies and milestones. But behind those visible supports is a reality that many families are navigating every day.
Karen explains:
“I think it's really, really important to acknowledge this. There is the daily life, there are the extra appointments. There's life admin like you wouldn't imagine. I mean, the paperwork and the online portals and, you know, whether it's for school or the NDIS or other things, medical appointments, that is a lot."
“Many families raising to a disability do less paid work. And so, then there's the sort of compounding cost of living pressures that affect everyone but can affect these families more. But that emotional side and the other pressures you feel, I think it's really important to talk about you have this little person that you love, but there's a whole lot wrapped up in that around hope and grief and worry.”
So, alongside the practical challenges is the ongoing mental load of supporting a child whose needs may change over time.
Kerry works with families every day through her early intervention service:
“Parents always want to do the absolute best for their child, but when they have a child with a disability, they're thinking about what is my child need and what can I do to support them? and who should I see? I see that as being a load that they're carrying and they carry it for a long time, and it gets exacerbated at different times when they're having to set goals or get funding.”
When families are already carrying so much, access to affordable and flexible play can make a real difference. Kerry says toy libraries provide opportunities for both learning and family connection.
“Toy libraries create opportunities for families to be able to have lots of choice and lots of opportunities to play with their children, and to support their children to learn and develop. It is a great opportunity for the whole family to be able to get more involved in play as a family, but also individually as well.”
For Tofu, the value extends far beyond borrowing toys.
“In our toy library, we're very flexible in membership fees. If we see a need for that family, if it's something that would help them, we are definitely right 100 percent there for them, to lessen that barrier for them. We have families, that are refugees that have come through and just not knowing whether they can borrow a toy because of the restrictions that they've had in their own journey just getting here. Just having the toy library there, it's open, it's low pressure, it's comfortable for them to be able to see someone, to talk to someone, and we try and lessen that barrier. The toy library does lighten the load. It takes the pressure off financially. Families aren't constantly buying toys that might get used for a short time.”
One of the advantages of borrowing is that families can access specialised resources that may otherwise be unaffordable.
For Danni's family, that made a significant difference.
“Our daughter is medically complex. She was born very prematurely, and she has delayed gross motor skills. So, our OT and physio gave us some suggestions which we couldn't purchase. They were quite costly and they wouldn't be covered under the NDIS. The things that we needed were these big foam ramps to help practice with crawling and climbing up and pulling things up, and we've borrowed them so many times, and I just feel like that is inclusion in essence, isn't it, that they've listened to the needs of their members and been able to action it because they've got buying power.”
And then something happened.
“Our daughter, she never crawled, but she would bum shuffle everywhere. And we'd been practicing going up and down steps on all fours. And so, we borrowed the foam stairs. And after I think we had it for about a month, she kind of didn't show any thing, but then when she realised she could get up, she started going back down, which we had never seen before in therapy. And I think it was because it was in a non-clinical environment. It was home, it was there, it was safe, and she had no pressure to kind of go up and down. She just did it. So that was amazing.”
For many families with children with disability or developmental delay, play can start to feel like another item on the to do list. But toy libraries can help shift the focus back to child-led exploration and enjoyment.
“And then the play itself with your children. Of course, all children are unique. They all play their own little way, which is so fabulous. But many children with developmental delay need extra support and scaffolding to play and to play for longer, or to play with others. For some children with physical disability, that means literally, you know, you're the one helping to move them around or to bring the toys and the things that they're playing with to them. For other children, playing alongside others is really tricky, and they need an adult they trust and know right there with them to help them interpret and understand what's happening.”
“Also, set up little play areas so children can actually sit and engage with toys, because for some kids, seeing so much toys at once can feel a bit overwhelming. So, you'll see some children run straight in then others sort of like hang back and watch for a while and then gradually join in with the guidance of their parents, saying, you know, we could try this or we could try that.
“We learn a lot by watching what they're drawn to and how those changes over time, in that moment when they find something they really connect with and then get to take it home. That's always pretty special. Everything is open to the child. The child gets to choose. The child is not restricted like in a shop where you can't touch this, you can't touch this otherwise we'll have to pay for it. No! This time you're coming to a toy library. It's low pressure. The child actually leads the whole season.”
All our guests know that the biggest gains for families often come through simple moments of connection.
“Clinicians are often focused on the clinical stuff. But we know that the way that families can really feel socially connected and they can start to engage in their community is by knowing the supports and services that are out there. And toy libraries are just this really welcoming, non-threatening environment that they can go to, that they would do if they were a parent that didn't have a child with a disability. And also, they’re a place that the whole family can be supported. So, you can be borrowing toys for the rest of the family as well. And that is a really great way of every member of the family feeling valued and having the opportunity to just partake in the joy of borrowing toys and having something new and fresh to play with.”
“You're not just going to get toys. You'll see other families. You'll see other children where our toy library is located, it's co-located with the maternal health nurse and other community services, so it's a real connection hub for families. It’s a really great space to be able to go and explore, not feel overwhelmed or judged. You're just coming as you are and borrowing what you would like, that's of interest to the children or you and I think as well, it's a great peer support network. I've made some great friends over my years during the toy library and being able to share sort of my journey, their journey and the shared experiences that we have, that's really important. It supports in so many ways, not just the children, but also the caregivers and the volunteers that are part of like grandparents that are part of the community too.”
Karen is a huge advocate in the importance of toy libraries for children and their families.
“One of the key things is that you're feeling connected to others, and toy libraries can be a really important part of that. If you're feeling connected to other families, then that can really help your family as a whole. And so, I think for allied health therapists and things to kind of see toy libraries is almost a boost, not just to the child, but to the family as a whole, and that they play a role in helping to connect families just to know what's there locally when it's on how to get along, ‘cause there's all those things you're learning, isn't there?”
For clinicians, educators and community workers, this episode highlights the importance of accessible play in family wellbeing. Toy libraries provide practical, community-based ways to reduce stress, build confidence, and support developmental goals outside formal therapy.
Thank you to our guests for sharing their experiences. This podcast series was made possible through funding from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Aging. Thank you for listening.
