About
The Museum of Childhood on Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile is the world's first museum dedicated to the history of childhood. Founded in 1955 by Councillor Patrick Murray, this beloved institution houses an extraordinary collection that spans over 250 years of toys, games, dolls, books, and childhood memorabilia.
The museum's five floors showcase everything from Victorian dolls' houses and vintage teddy bears to 1980s computer games and modern playthings. Beyond toys, the collections explore the social history of childhood itself, examining education, clothing, health, and how children's lives have evolved across different eras and social classes. Interactive displays allow visitors to handle replica toys, while original items are beautifully preserved behind glass.
What makes this museum particularly special is its nostalgic appeal to adults while remaining genuinely engaging for children. Grandparents reconnect with toys from their youth, parents discover treasures from their own childhoods, and children marvel at how previous generations played. The museum also addresses more serious aspects of childhood history, including child labor, wartime experiences, and changing attitudes toward education and child welfare, providing a comprehensive and thought-provoking journey through the experience of growing up across the centuries.
Categories:
Highlights
Victorian Dolls' Houses
The museum's outstanding collection of Victorian and Edwardian dolls' houses offers a fascinating glimpse into domestic life of the upper and middle classes.
These intricate miniature homes feature hand-crafted furniture, working lights, and incredibly detailed accessories. The most famous is a six-room Victorian mansion complete with servants' quarters, demonstrating the strict social hierarchies of the era.
Each tiny room tells stories about daily life, from elaborate dining rooms to modest sculleries, providing valuable historical insights into how different classes lived.
Teddy Bear Collection
One of Britain's most comprehensive teddy bear collections spans from early Steiff bears of the 1900s to modern collectibles. The evolution of the teddy bear mirrors changing manufacturing techniques, materials, and children's relationships with toys. Early bears with movable joints and boot-button eyes contrast sharply with later safety-conscious designs.
The collection includes bears that belonged to famous individuals and those with remarkable provenance, each representing a piece of social history and childhood memory across generations.
Vintage Games and Puzzles
An extensive array of board games, card games, and puzzles demonstrates how children's entertainment has evolved since the 18th century. Victorian moral improvement games sit alongside 1950s television tie-ins and 1980s electronic games. The collection includes rare examples like hand-painted wooden games, educational puzzles designed to teach geography and history, and early versions of games still played today.
Interactive displays allow visitors to try replicas, making this a particularly engaging gallery for families.
School Days Exhibition
This evocative gallery recreates classroom environments from different periods, complete with authentic desks, slates, textbooks, and teaching materials. Visitors can compare Victorian rote learning with progressive 20th-century methods, examining how educational philosophy and childhood experiences have changed.
The collection includes punishment implements, reward systems, school uniforms, and exercise books filled with children's work, offering poignant insights into the realities of education across social classes and time periods.
Collections
Treasured: Childhood in the Collections
The main permanent display across five floors explores the material culture of childhood from the 1700s to today, organized thematically rather than chronologically to encourage connections across time periods.
Street Life
Examining outdoor play, street games, and how children used public spaces for entertainment before modern safety concerns restricted their freedom.
Home Life
Domestic childhood across the classes, from nurseries and schoolrooms in wealthy homes to shared spaces in working-class housing.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.