Toy museum facts for kids

The National Farm Toy Museum in Dyersville, Iowa, United States.

A display of Roman toys at the Museum of Archaeology in Tarragona, Spain.

Imagine a place filled with toys from different times and places! That's what a toy museum is. These special museums are all about toys. They show off toys from long ago or from different cultures around the world.

Toy museums are different from children's museums. Children's museums are made for kids to play and learn. Toy museums can be for kids or adults. Some let you play with exhibits, while others just show off amazing collections.

Awesome Toy Museums Around the World

The logo for the Toy Museum in Ahmedabad, India.

The Tartu Toy Museum in Estonia.

Want to explore some cool toy museums? Here's a list of places that focus just on toys. Their amazing collections are open for everyone to see!

Exploring Famous Toy Museums

• The Musée du jouet is in Poissy, France. It's a great place to see French toys.
• The Tidö Toy Museum is located in Västerås, Sweden.
• The Spencer Doll and Toy Museum is in Spencer, North Carolina, USA.
• The Toy Museum of Ahmedabad is in Ahmedabad, INDIA. This museum is part of a World Heritage City.
• The Museum of Childhood (Edinburgh) is on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. It shows how childhood has changed over time.
• The Swiss Museum of Games is in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland.
• The National Farm Toy Museum is in Dyersville, Iowa. This museum specializes in scale models and toys of farm equipment.
• The National Toy and Miniature Museum in Kansas City, Missouri has a huge collection. It boasts more than 300,000 items!
• The Museo Valenciano del Juguete de Ibi is in Alicante, Spain. It was started in 1986 and has toys from the 19th and 20th centuries.
• The Museu del Joguet de Catalunya is in Girona, Spain. It opened in 1970 and focuses on toys from its region.
• The Museo de los Soldaditos de Plomo is in Valencia, Spain. This museum is set in an old palace and displays tin soldiers.
• The Toy and Plastic Brick Museum is in Bellaire, Ohio, USA. It was founded in 2006.
• The Nuremberg Toy Museum is in Nuremberg, Germany. It opened in 1971.
• The Mechelen Toy Museum is in Mechelen, Belgium. It started in 1982.
• Pollock's Toy Museum is a small museum in Covent Garden, London. It first opened in 1956.
• Shankar's International Dolls Museum has a large collection of dolls in Delhi, India. It opened in 1965.
• Strong - National Museum of Play is in Rochester, New York. It explores the history of play in American culture. It also includes the National Toy Hall of Fame, which honors popular toys.
• The Istanbul Toy Museum is a small museum in Göztepe, Istanbul, Turkey. It was founded in 2005.
• The Brighton Toy and Model Museum in Brighton, England, has many toy and model trains. It also has other toys, dolls, and construction toys like Meccano.
• The Saint Petersburg Toy Museum is in Russia. It was founded in 1997.
• The Penang Toy Museum in Penang, Malaysia, has over 120,000 figures and dolls. It also has 60 life-size figures! It's one of the largest toy collections in the world.
• The Malacca Toy Museum is in Malacca, Malaysia.
• The Ore Mountain Toy Museum, Seiffen, in Germany, is famous for its unique wooden toys. These toys are typical of the Ore Mountains region.
• The Harold Bell Wright Museum/Toy Museum, also known as The World's Largest Toy Museum, is in Branson, Missouri. It shows American toys from the 1800s to the 1990s, including Star Wars and 1950s Western toys.
• The Rhodes toy museum Greece is the first toy museum in Greece. It features only Greek toys.
• The Suomenlinna Toy Museum was established in 1985. It is located in the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress in Helsinki, Finland.
• The Tartu Toy Museum in Tartu, Estonia, opened in 1994. It now holds more than 20,000 items.
• The Hong Kong International Hobby and Toy Museum opened in 2011. It shows toy cars, dolls, action figures, and more.
• The Toy Collector is in Christchurch, New Zealand.
• The Vilnius Toy Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, tells the story of Lithuanian toys. It has sections for ancient toys, 19th-20th century toys, and modern toys.

Former Toy Museums

Some toy museums have closed their doors over time.

• The The Bear Museum, a teddy bear museum, was in Petersfield, England. It opened in 1984 and closed in 2006.
• The Teddy Bear Museum of Naples was in north Naples, Florida. It opened in 1990 and closed in 2005.
• The Toy Town Museum is in East Aurora, New York. This is the home of Fisher-Price toys. It is currently looking for a new location.
• The London Toy and Model Museum opened in 1982 in London, UK. It closed in 1999.