Childrens Gift Ideas Blog Toys and gifts to inspire the Imagination

Dorset Museum Hosts Traditional Toy Exhibition

Beaminster Museum in Dorset is delighting children of all ages with a new display of traditional toys dating back 200 years this month.

The summer exhibition, entitled “When We Were Very Young: revisiting Childhood” celebrates two centuries of childhood wonder.

The exhibits include a child’s toy sword from the 1820s, tin-plate trains, lead farmyard animals, a classic wooden Noah’s Ark, paper model buildings, ivory dominoes and a porcelain doll.

Young visitors can follow the Teddy Trek take part in some of the children's games of bygone days.

While some manufacturers still offer traditional wooden toys, porcelain and lead figures and everyday items made from ivory are now things of the past for obvious reasons.

The exhibition also explores the darker side of childhood before our more enlightened times. A collection of images and objects from the 19th century to the 1970s show how children worked as well as played.

The Museum is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Bank Holiday Monday from 10.30am to 12.30pm and 2.30pm to 4.30pm and on Sundays from 2.30pm to 4.30pm

The “When We Were Very Young: revisiting Childhood” exhibition runs until September 5th.

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