Kids in London – V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green

KimT's London for Kids Blog

The smart modern exterior of the building hides a fabulous collection of toy exhibits, an assortment of hands-on play activities for small people and an interesting history.
The foyer has some contemporary displays from local colleges and the kids seemed happy running around the large willow den, sitting on the cushions within it and playing at the old school desks by its side.

Victorian women’s prison

The building is spectacular – a huge metal construction with sky lights flooding the area with light and an upper balcony area. It used to be a women’s prison and a friendly member of staff explained that the huge mosaic tile floor was painstakingly created by the inmates. Apparently, this is where the V&A Museum was originally based before it moved the main collections over to South Kensington.

Collections in glass cases

On first inspection the glass cases containing toys from Victorian times and the modern day, from home and overseas countries (loved the Chinese rock gardens with their tiny figures), don’t look like they will capture the attention of the small people. But there’s lots of space between them where the children can wander.

Lots of hands-on activities for kids

Amongst all the displays are numerous areas for interactive play – there was a sensory pod with inviting lights and textures to touch, boxes of dressing up clothes, traditional building blocks, Duplo (the larger version of Lego), magnetic drawing boards, wave machines, wooden dolls houses, wooden garages, rocking horses and upstairs I even found a sandpit (with deck chairs for parents). And my favourite – a huge red and black Robby the Robot with handles and puzzles.

So many toys

Every type of toy was to be found here. It bought back lots of memories. And smiles. There were bicycles and scooters. There were fluffies and dolls. There were board games and action figures. There were puppets – of the Punch and Judy kind (you could even play in a theatre near the sand pit) and shadow types. There were mirror walls and train sets. It was more than enough to make a small person set aside their tablets and modern gadgets.

Upstairs (there’s a lift for those who can’t manage the stairs) there was an exhibition of war games – with an army camp and play-in trench area. There were fantasy war games too – with Action Men in a range of costumes. Up there were also some sofas for tired parents and displays of Victorian baby gear and costumes. The kids up here were enthralled with play kitchen areas and sit-in wooden cars. There was a soft play area for the under 3s too.

Huge café and affordable shop

Back downstairs and the huge open café in the centre was buzzing. The shop offered a variety of products and I was happy to see that there were plenty of small, pocket money sized items here as well as a good selection of children’s books.

What a fabulous place. And it’s entirely free. So next time you are in the East End, with the kids and it’s raining – you know absolutely where to go. And half term is only a few weeks away.

http://www.museumofchildhood.org.uk/

Posted Date
Feb 3, 2014 in KimT's London for Kids Blog by KimT