University Faculty of Educational Sciences Toy Museum

Ankara Toy Museum is Turkey's first toy museum.

It opened on 20 April 1990 under the leadership of educational scientist Prof. Dr. Bekir Onur within Ankara University. The museum's purpose is to preserve toys that are under threat of disappearing in Turkey's rapid change process. Under the name Ankara Toy Museum, it was registered as a trademark on 18.10.2020 by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office with registration number 2020/46510. It operates under the supervision of the Ethnography Museum Directorate.

The museum, which includes many foreign toys such as German-made items from 1840 in addition to traditional Turkish toys, aims to protect and keep alive the culture of play and toys by taking its visitors on a historical journey with the 1200 pieces on display. The items in the collection support research on industrial history, cultural history, educational history and childhood history.

Collection

The museum at the Tandoğan Campus of Ankara University has hosted thousands of toys produced domestically and abroad since its establishment in 1990. The museum collection consists of toys gathered as a result of academic Prof. Dr. Bekir Onur's research on games and toys in Anatolia. Nearly 5000 toys are recorded in the museum inventory. These toys, primarily traditional toys, focus on 14 different themes. The oldest group of toys in the museum is a marketplace figure set dated to 1870. A prominent feature of the collection is the inclusion of productions from important brands related to the Turkish toy industry.

In the Ankara Toy Museum, toys are grouped into four main categories: I. Traditional Toys: Mostly play-related, local, seasonal, handmade toys: kite, slingshot, hoop, spinning top, cloth doll, cradle, walker, etc.

II. Manufactured Toys: These industrial products are classified according to the material they are made of:

Wooden Toys: Various cars, houses, animals, etc. The first manufactured wooden Turkish toys (1938) examples are also in this group.

Tin Toys: Cars, trains, trucks, various animals, kitchen utensils, lead soldiers, etc. This group contains examples of the oldest (1933) Turkish tin toys.

Paper Toys: Various toys made of cardboard and paper.

Plastic Toys: Various old and new toys made of plastic.

Dolls and Soft Toys: Dolls and plush animal models made of various materials such as papier-mâché, porcelain, plastic. This group displays the oldest (1960) examples of the Turkish doll industry.

III. Foreign Toys: Various toys brought from other countries for personal or commercial purposes. The museum's oldest pieces (1890) are in this group.

IV. Antique Toys: Copies of some antique toys exhibited in many of our country's archaeology museums.

The Ankara Toy Museum exhibitions were transferred to the digital environment with matterport technique on 26 October 2023.