Many Swiss towns host a toy library, aka Ludothek, where you can rent or borrow games, toys, bikes, and more. Often the Ludothek is part of the regular town library or school library. You many need to buy a yearly membership and/or pay a small fee for each borrowed item. Visiting a Ludothek is a good rainy day option, both as an excursion and to add more fun at home.
Where to find a toy library
Most every neighborhood or town has its own Ludothek. Here is a list of all Ludotheks in Switzerland. Here are a few in Zurich:
Ludothek Zurich 2 website
Seestrasse 395, 8038 Zürich
Ludothek Zurich Nord website
Wehntalerstrasse 440, 8046 Zürich
Ludothek Kreis 6 website
temporary location: Pfarreizentrum Bruder Klaus, Milchbuckstrasse 73, 8057 Zürich
Ludothek Kreis 7 website
Jupiterstrasse 42, Zurich
Ludothek Seebach
Gemeinschaftszentrum Seebach, Hertensteinstrasse 20, 8052 Zürich
Our experience at a Zürich toy library
We primarily use the Ludothek for renting board games. This allows us to save money and space as well as test games before we buy our favorites. The selection isn’t always amazing, but there are always things that my boys want to take home.
We went to Ludothek Zurich 2, which is in Zurich Enge at Rote Fabrik. There’s no parking, so you have to park in one of the public lots a short walk away. It would be better to take the bus, which stops pretty close.
You walk through the main entrance of Rote Fabrik almost all the way to the lake. On your left, there’s a door with a skull spraypainted on it (very welcoming I know) and a big flag outside which says “Ludothek”.
Go in and upstairs is a small room crowded with toys and games.
It’s a small, but dense collection. There was plenty to keep us interested for at least a year.
Each Ludothek has its own membership fee. Ludothek Zurich 2 costs 20/year to join (cash only). The items cost about 1-5 CHF to borrrow for 4 weeks, renewal by phone. We borrowed three board games (1-2CHF/each) and a skateboard for 2 CHF. I had two very happy boys that day.
My 9yo thought the graffiti was scary but my 5yo thought it was fun. They were so happy to bring the skateboard home, get their safety gear on, and try it right away.
One game we brought home was Ubongo, which was an instant hit. We might have to buy this one eventually. There is a fee if you bring the toy or game back broken or missing pieces. So I have a little anxiety about losing any of the many little pieces from this game. But it makes us be a little more tidy that we might otherwise be.
My 5yo was desperate to bring this noisy game home. It sings loudly and wiggles. I’m glad he gets to have it for a few weeks, but I’ll be even more glad to take it back.
One Response
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