Small escapees are planning to hide in downtown Ashburton in the upcoming school holidays to raise funds, and awareness, for the Ashburton Toy Library.

They will be making appearances around the central business district for amateur detectives to find.

Toy library committee member Jess Wright came up with the idea of ‘The Great Toy Escape’ after being inspired by the Methven Scarecrow Trail.

It got her thinking about what sort of trail the toy library could run.

Her 22-month-old son Oakley loves Fisher Price Little People characters which sparked the idea.

Businesses in town have come on board and will have a small figure related to their business in their window alongside a profile of the character.

It includes why the character escaped, a code word and a bonus clue.

The clue helps detectives solve the mystery of who planned the escape.

“As I thought about it the whole thing just snowballed, ” Wright said.

“It’s a great school holiday activity, it gets youngsters off their screen out and about, and is affordable for families.

Each character can be viewed from the street, so detectives don’t need to enter and the search can happen outside business hours.

People wanting to take part purchase a $10 detective passport and hunt for the characters to work out who planned the escape.

Among the 27 characters are Blow wave Brenda, Officer Olivia, Firefighter Felix, Nana Deb, Pilot Pete and Masterpiece Maverick.

Wright said it should be a fun activity and was suitable for any age so she was looking forward to it.

Folks she has already told “love it”, she said.

The library is aiming to raise $1000 from the activity which will be used to purchase more toys.

Detectives who get all the clues right and identify who lead the escape will go in the draw to win one of the great prizes donated by businesses.