About us
We recycle unwanted toys and give them to children who need them. Our community hub on Junction Road in Archway has a shop, a free Playroom, a community art gallery and the Teddy Bear Rehoming Centre.
What we do
- We recycle unwanted toys and give them to children who need them
- We encourage learning through play by funding Lego workshops, art workshops and storytelling
- We raise money to fund projects such as toy and book libraries, murals and community events
- We educate children about recycling and supporting others
Who we support
- Schools and nurseries
- Hospitals and hospices
- Bereavement centres
- Community centres
- Migrant, refugee and women’s refuge centres
- Prisons, and the children and families of prisoners
- Homeless families
- Looked after children
- Children with complex needs
- Children and families in need
- Families who are struggling financially
Between November 2025 and October 2026 we supported 28,564 children through referrals from families, schools and organisations.
We support children in London and across the UK, and also send toys to India, Africa and the Caribbean. Find out more on our Projects page, or fill in a referral form if you think your organisation or a family you work with is eligible for our support.
How we do it
We accept donations of both new and used toys from individuals, local children and families and businesses. We receive funding from sources such as the National Lottery, Islington council, the Arsenal Foundation and London funders and are supported by many companies. We raise money through our shop by selling some of our donated toys.
Our history
The TOY Project was founded in 2013 by Jane Garfield and Angela Donovan.
Through her role as a primary school teacher, Jane could see how some children had more toys than others and how schools needed resources but had little funds for sourcing them. It was through this that she began collecting unwanted toys that she could then distribute to those most in need.
Angela wanted to provide toys and resources for bereaved children through supporting play therapists with toys to use in their sessions with children who had lost a parent, a sibling or a close friend.
The TOY Project started life as a part-time operation run out of Jane’s living room, but it soon outgrew the space and was moved to a small storage room in a community centre in Finsbury Park.
In 2016 we opened a pop-up shop on Junction Road, Archway to raise money to keep the charity going. At the shop, local children and families could now donate their ‘old’ toys and buy ‘new’ ones. Our shop was a big success, and we decided to make the ‘pop-up’ shop into a permanent feature of Archway.
We thrived in our new home but quickly outgrew the space and a year later, we moved a few doors down into our new home at 81 Junction Road in Archway. The larger shop provides more retail space and dedicated areas for sorting and storing toys, such as all the Lego required for our weekly Lego workshops we run at a community centre around the corner. We also rent a small warehouse nearby to store new toys we give as gifts for Christmas and birthday presents
How you can support us
- Hold a fundraising event
- Organise a toy drive at your school or workplace
- Follow us on Instagram
- Spread the word about our charity