Exploring the Impact of Toy Libraries on Preschool Children's Early Literacy Development: From the Perspective of “Playing”

Abstract

This study aims to adopt a perspective of “play” to explore the impact of toy libraries on preschool children’s early literacy development. This study is qualitative in nature, taking place in two toy libraries affiliated with public libraries which hold large-scale toy collections and have offered long-standing toy lending services. Observations and interviews were conducted to explore the caregiver-child interactions and conversations mediated by toy collections in toy libraries and their impact on the development of early literacy skills. Study participants included 76 preschool children, 62 caregivers, and 7 librarians. Findings suggest that the impact of using toy collections in the toy libraries on preschool children’s early literacy development included: print motivation, vocabulary, oral language, narrative skills, letter knowledge (including English letters and Chinese characters), and school readiness (including social skills, logical thinking, hand-eye coordination, attention and persistence, creativity, and interest exploration). Meanwhile, findings also show that toy libraries help alleviate family economic pressure and become a place for caregivers and preschool children to socialize and share learning resources. (Article content in Chinese with English extended abstract)

Keywords

• toy libraries
• preschool children
• early literacy
• play
• qualitative research