Local Council is a great first step. Many councils have a community directory, or can point you toward their Family and Children’s Services team, Community Development team, or youth services staff. These teams are usually well-connected and can help you understand what support already exists and where gaps might be.

Libraries are another strong starting point because they often host family programs and have close links with playgroups, early literacy supports, and community outreach services. Schools, kindergartens, OSHC providers, and childcare centres also tend to know what families are accessing locally.

Child health services can be very useful too for example community health centres, child health nurses, and local allied health providers (OT, speech, physio). These groups often support families who benefit greatly from low-cost play access and inclusive community spaces.

It’s also worth looking to neighbouring toy libraries. Use the Find a Toy Library function to see who is near you. If you have nearby toy libraries, there are huge benefits to sharing ideas, resources, training, and referral pathways — and they may already have a list of local services they’re happy to share.

Other helpful places to look include WA Early Years Networks, community centres, and local family support groups. Even community social media groups can be useful both for discovering services and learning what local families talk about most.

How to connect with services

Connecting with services doesn’t need to be formal. It can start with a simple email or short introduction message that explains what your toy library is, who you support, and what you offer families. A friendly and genuine approach works best, especially when your goal is partnership rather than “promotion”.

A good first conversation usually includes a few easy questions like:

• “Who do you support most?”

• “What are families struggling with at the moment?”

• “How could the toy library complement what you do?”

It can also help to invite services for a quick visit, share a one-page flyer, or offer to do a short three-minute intro at a team meeting. Following each other on social media and tagging partners in relevant posts is another easy way to stay visible and strengthen relationships over time.

How to track services (so it doesn’t live in one person’s brain)

Partnership knowledge becomes much more valuable when it’s shared across the whole committee. The easiest way to do this is by keeping a “Local Services List” in a shared spreadsheet (Google Sheets, Excel, or Loop). This list acts like a living directory, so relationships don’t disappear when committee roles change.

A good tracking list usually includes: service name, contact person, what the service offers, who it supports, how referrals work, how you connect with them, and the date of your last contact.

If you want to keep it even simpler, add a traffic light system:

🟢 strong relationship🟡 some connection🔴 not connected yet

Review the list once or twice a year, and assign one role to keep it current even if it’s only 20 minutes every couple of months.

How services and toy libraries can work together

Partnerships can be small and simple, or bigger and more structured and both are valuable.

One of the most common ways services work together is through referrals. For example, a child health nurse may suggest the toy library as a low-cost support for play, development, and parent connection. In return, the toy library can refer families to playgroups, parenting supports, or specialist services when needed.

Another easy collaboration is shared programming. A toy library might run a pop-up session during a library event, or a local service might host a toy pop-up as part of one of their family sessions. Joint events are also a natural fit, such as running a Children’s Week activity together or creating a community play day with zones like sensory play, literacy play, and “toy try-out” stations.

Services can also work together by sharing resources. Partners can include the toy library in welcome packs, distribute flyers, or display each other’s brochures. Some partnerships become more specialised too, such as inclusion collaborations where disability services support toy libraries to expand adaptive toy ranges, create sensory kits, or run training for volunteers.

For regional communities, outreach partnerships can be especially powerful. Local services can help by promoting outreach sessions, providing space, helping families connect, or acting as pick-up points for toy library resources.

A simple action plan

A great way to start is to focus on your first ten services. Build a list of ten groups you want to be connected with and aim to contact two each month. Then build toward one joint activity each year. Over time, these small steps become a strong local network and families feel that difference.