The toys are back in town: JoCo libraries restart this unique children’s program

Stripes will never be eligible for a library card but will be a very important patron Sept. 12 at the Lenexa City Center Library.

Stripes is a toy — an orange tabby cat from Shawnee — signed up for the first of the Toys Night Out events offered this fall at Johnson County Library locations.

Toys will be dropped off at a branch in the afternoon and picked up the next morning. In between, the toys will be doing what librarians do: working at a desk, going through the book sorter and shelving books. All the while, library staff will be taking photos of the toys’ adventures. When the children pick up their toys, they will receive the list of library materials curated by the toy that they can then check out, and either printed photos or a digital slide show of their toy’s adventures the night before.

The program isn’t new.

“The basic concept for this program has been done at many other libraries across the county,” said Jennifer Reeves, youth services librarian at the Monticello Library branch.

Before the pandemic, Johnson County Library called it a Stuffed Animal Sleepover. It began around 2010 and was offered a few times a year at the Leawood Pioneer branch and the former Lackman location in Lenexa.

Now the program is open to all types of toys, not just stuffed animals. And it will be offered at seven locations: Lenexa City Center, Monticello, Antioch, De Soto, Gardner, Cedar Roe and Blue Valley.

In addition, all participants will get a free pass to the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures.

“We wanted to open it up to a wider variety of kids,” Reeves said. “Maybe they’ve outgrown stuffed animals or never were into them in the first place, but have a favorite truck or Lego character they’d like to send.”

The program can be offered again post pandemic.

“It was a fun and unique way for kids to see behind-the-scenes at their local library,” Reeves said. “This time around we’re being more intentional about the program, connecting it more to our mission by adding the community partner component and recommendation lists.”

Reeves said sometimes it is “a little nerve-wracking” for a child to let a beloved toy spend the night away.

“But the kids are always so excited to see the behind-the-scenes pictures and fill in the blanks with their imaginations,” Reeves said. “The toys get put in silly and creative situations, and get to go to the back-of-house places in the library that patrons don’t usually get to see. Plus, what kid hasn’t imagined what happens in their favorite places at night, when the lights go out?“

The toys aren’t the only ones having fun.

“It’s a fun opportunity for our librarians to get really creative, use skills we don’t always get to flex, and interact with our younger patrons in a different way,” she said.

Toys Night Out will be held at the following locations:

▪ Sept. 12-13: Lenexa City Center Library, 8778 Penrose Lane, Lenexa.

▪ Sept. 29-30: Antioch Library, 8700 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Merriam.

▪ Oct. 5-6: DeSoto Library, 33145 W. 83rd St., DeSoto.

▪ Oct. 5-6: Monticello Library, 22435 W. 66th St., Shawnee.

▪ Oct. 6-7: Gardner Library, 137 E. Shawnee St., Gardner.

▪ Oct. 24-25: Cedar Roe Library, 5120 Cedar St., Roeland Park.

▪ Dec. 1-2: Blue Valley Library, 9000 W. 151st St., Overland Park.

Toys must be registered before the event.

For more information and to register, go to: www.jocolibrary.org/events or call 913-826-4600.