A toy museum is a museum for toys. They typically showcase toys from a particular culture or period with their history.[1] These are distinct from children's museums, which are museums for children, and are often interactive – toy museums may be aimed at children or adults, and may have interactive exhibits or be exclusively for display.
The following lists only museums specializing in toys, whose collections are open for public viewing. Some museums such as the American Museum of Natural History have toys on display in their permanent collection, but are not full-fledged toy museums and as such are not listed here. Also, organizations. such as The Doll and Toy "Museum" of New York City that hold toy collections but are not open for public viewing are not listed here.
MINT Museum of Toys, Singapore was opened in 2007 and remains the largest vintage toys and collectables museum in Asia with an ever-growing collection of 50,000 items, ranging specifically between the years of 1840s to 1980s.
Hong Kong International Hobby and Toy Museum, China, was opened in 2011. Exhibits include toy cars, dolls, action figures, cartoon characters, science fiction collectibles, model rockets, Japanese anime, classic toys and more.
Penang Toy Museum in Penang, Malaysia displays more than 120,000 items of figures, dolls and 60 life size figures. It is the largest collection of toys in the world. It was founded in 2002 by a professional engineer.
The Vilnius Toy Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, presents the history of Lithuanian toys. The space of the museum is divided into an archeological space, containing the oldest toys, an ethnographic space, showcasing 19th-20th century toys, and a third space introducing more modern toys.[2]
The Brighton Toy and Model Museum, in Brighton, Sussex, England, has an extensive collection of toy and model trains, as well as many other toys, dolls, and construction toys, such as Meccano.
The Toy Town Museum is located in East Aurora, New York, the home of Fisher-Price. It was located on the Fisher-Price campus although it operated as an independent entity. It is currently looking for a new location.
The London Toy and Model Museum opened in 1982, in London, UK, and closed in 1999.[5]