Recycling kids books

[FizzyStream]

Just going through all the books that my kids have and wondering what to do with the ones they've outgrown. There is probably a very obvious answer but my brain is on strike. Would their primary school take them for their library? Would email to ask but it's half term now.

Only the school can answer this.

Definitely email the school and check with them, they may have a school jumble sale coming up so they would be extremely grateful.

Failing that what about charity shops - we have a charity in our area that take children's toys/books to give to families when they are fleeing domestic Violence etc.

And finally, do you have a library near you? Ours takes books to hand out to children after storytelling sessions.

• charity shops
• school
• library
• doctors/dentists office for waiting area
• friends/family with younger children
• some supermarkets like our local Morrisons have a bookshelf on the way out for swapping books

You could :
Donate to school
Donate to charity shop
Donate to a local jumble sale
Sell on local site eg Nextdoor
Sell on eBay
Put on Freecycle
Put outside your door with a note for people to help themselves

Primary school, local nurseries, library, put outside your house saying ‘please take’, Facebook?

Do you not have a local FB page where you could give them away , lots of that sort of stuff on our local page .

Local charities like WA, homeless shelters,

charities that can give them to kids, not just the ones that sell them.

If they are great classic picture books (Julia Donaldson, tiger who came to tea, hungry caterpillar etc) any nursery or primary school would be incredibly grateful.

The TV/Disney spin off books are better being diverted to charity shops as they are often really long to read.

There's a charity that takes donated children's books to pass on to children who don't have any. I can't remember the name of it but someone mentioned it on here a while back, I googled and found a school in our nearest city that would take them for passing on.

Ours were all in great condition as DS has lost interest in reading now, especially stories, so I was glad that they would end up being of value to somebody again.

Thanks all. Great ideas, they are in such lovely condition so I want to make sure they will go somewhere they are needed and appreciated. There's loads so think I'll split them between school, library and a drop off type place.
To the pp who said only the school can answer that; I know. I only wondered if there were any primary school staff that might know if it's a usual thing to have books donated.

You could try the childrensbookproject.co.uk
They have local drop points & donate to schools, women's groups etc.

I would always just give to charity shops. They tend to want things in good condition.
Used to volunteer in my DCs primary school library and don't remember anyone donating books.

childrensbookproject.co.uk/donate-books/

our local tip has a book bank for those good enough for resale.

I have donated quite a few books to our local school and they are always incredibly grateful. Definitely worth asking! I prefer donating to schools as many children then get to enjoy the books

I am a volunteer librarian in a primary school, and often get donations of unwanted and/or outgrown books from the children. My understanding is that school budgets often don't stretch to new reading books these days, so I think most schools would be grateful for new additions either to their library or for putting in classrooms for children to read during reading time.

Whenever we've offered them to school they have gone straight into the class's book corner. I don't think they would have got as far as the library! I've always assumed each class teacher maintains their own book corner. They always seem grateful anyway.

Keep your favourites to read to your grandchildren

I'd definitely recommend donating to the Children's Book Project via any of their hundreds of nationwide donation points, including many ASDA stores and loads of schools that have asked to receive book donations via their book donation map. The charity focuses on gifting your books to children in schools and community groups in deprived areas who may not have many books of their own. So its about recycling, education and tackling poverty - fabulous stuff! Full transparency - I'm a volunteer.