Toys museums are simply fun museums that stock an assortment of toys on a particular theme. Toys have become more and more innovative over the years and they have become a representation or even a role model for children in particular cultures. The Barbie Doll in America is perhaps the greatest doll toy of all time across the world, and her popularity is mainly from her great representation of the American culture. However, this same toy was banned in Iran and then Middle Eastern countries in general, simply because she was thought to represent a culture in opposition with that of predominantly Muslim countries. In effect, a new doll that resembles Barbie was launched in November 2003 in Syria. This doll, the Fulla doll (called the Muslim Barbie by some quarters), was said to represent the Muslim culture since she wore conservatively and even had a hijab.
Toy Museums
With such key cultural attachments as exemplified above, toys have increasingly become objects of cultural representation. Toy museums therefore are museums that showcase the toys that have been created to denote a particular culture, period of history or cultural conception. Children and adults alike can have fun at toy museums sampling some of the greatest permanent collections of toys ever created.
The following is a list of the most reputable toy museums in the world, dealing out museum fun in great doses for those who seek fun moments among the toys that have graced our households over the years, both locally and across the world. Toys are part of childhood and mark what children can remember of their play days. It makes a great outing to have the kids interact with all the toys that generations ahead of them had played with and those in contemporary production too.
To begin with, America has actually led in this front, showcasing the toys that have donned child play over the years. An example is the National Museum of Play at Rochester, New York. This museum, founded back in 1982, has successfully documented the American culture of child play with a prolific history of all toys we have known and seen in this and the last two centuries. In 1998, this museum launched a National Toy Hall of Fame where all popular toys that Americans have known are conserved and appreciated on display.
The Toy and Plastic Brick Museum at Bellaire, Ohio, launched in 2006, is another great example of American toy museums. Founded in 2006, the National Farm Toy Museum is still another entrant in this field. Located at Dyersville in Iowa, this museum is dedicated to preservation and display of toy replicas, scale models and farm-equipment-based toys in the US.
Across the Atlantic Ocean the Museum of Childhood is a notable entrant of fun museums outside America and which is a specialist in toy collection. Located on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, this Scottish museum is a great place to take the children to sample some of the greatest toys that have been created since the 18th Century, especially in Europe. In 2004, Spain inaugurated the Museum of Toys and Automata at Verdi and it has gained fame as a great fun museum that exclusively features toys from across the world.
Nuremberg, Germany also launched a toy museum back in 1971 called the Nuremberg Toy Museum. Comparable to this is the 1956 Pollock’s Toy Museum located at the Covent Garden in London. These are just but examples of toy museums across the world with many others still that you can locate on the internet. Delhi’s Shankar’s International Dolls Museum for instance is another of the great fun museums in India, which has built a huge collection of toys, especially dolls, since 1965.
Some other two toy museums outside the US are worthy of special mention. The Istanbul Toy Museum founded in early 2005 is among the most prolific Muslim conceptions of the toy phenomena. Located in the garden of Eyup Sultan Mosque in Goztepe, Istanbul, this Turkish museum has been an attraction for many non-Muslims who are curious of how Muslim children play. Another of the world famous toy museums is the Brighton Toy and Model Museum, located in Brighton, Sussex. This is the greatest of all toy museums in England. It features an extensive toy collection in model trains, dolls, military dioramas and construction models.