Registered Charity No: 1076831
As of 1 April 2006 Darlington Toy Library and Storysacks Association merged to become Darlington Storysack & Toy Resources.
This exciting project now offers parents, carers and other childcare providers in Darlington a wide range of reading and play resources.
How do we do it?
We provide Storysacks® to help bring stories to life and make story time special. By using Storysacks® as a shared reading resource, we hope to stimulate a child’s interest in books and reading. They are intended to be used by adults and children together and were the invention of Neil Griffiths, a Headteacher from Swindon. We use commercially bought sacks and also those made by volunteers in the community and our own employees.
What is in a Storysack®?
A Storysack is a cloth bag with a picture story book, a non-fiction book with a related theme, usually a tape recording of the story, plus a game, prompt sheet and props and characters to support the story. A sack full of fun with a purpose!
What play resources are available?
We stock a wide range of high quality resources linked to children's ages and development stages. Many of the items we stock are selected from educational suppliers which enable us to provide items not normally available to our members. The items are for indoor and outdoor use.
So who can borrow them and how much does it cost?
Members can include families, playgroups, nurseries, schools, out of school clubs, childminders and other childcare providers registered with Darlington Sure Start Partnership. There is no charge for membership or borrowing. We can deliver and collect our resources free of charge on Monday or Tuesday by prior arrangement.
How do you select the resources?
The project has an extensive catalogue of all the reading and play resources where a description of each item and age recommendation is detailed. At the moment you need to contact us to view the catalogue but we hope to have them available on line in the near future.
What else do we do?
We provide storytelling, storysack making and stay & play sessions in all of the Children's Centres in Darlington. If you can sew, knit, draw etc, why not come along to one of our sack making sessions at the Children's Centre in McNay Street? Use your skills and have a chat at the same time! Your local Children's Centre will have details of the times or you can contact us directly. Come along to one of our regular stay and play sessions where you can meet the project staff who will provide expert advice on the selection of reading and play resources for your children, whilst you spend quality time playing and reading together.
We are also able to provide other childcare settings with storytelling sessions, if you are interested in finding out more please contact us.
Some ways to help us
Have you some spare time? Could you volunteer to help us check that the resources are complete when they come back? Or maybe you would like to undertake some repair work for us as the play equipment and sacks and their contents are very well used! Do you have any soft toys, characters or toys in good condition that you would like to recycle? Just get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
Please click on the links for further information on Darlington Storysack & Toy Resources:
Darlington Storysack & Toy Resources Leaflet (pdf document)
Darlington Storysack & Toy Resources Poster (pdf document)
If you would like further information please contact the Darlington Storysack & Toy Resources on 01325 248996 or e-mail storysackandtoys@darlington.gov.uk or drop in at Coporation Road Community Primary School, Corporation Road, Darlington on Fridays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. You can also visit by appointment.