Providing you are visiting Brussels with your family and children, one of the places you should definitely visit is Toy Museum. Undeniably, there are many museums of toys around the world, however, even if you have happened to visit any of them, be sure, you will be amused by the variety of items collected in the Brussels museum. This museum is dedicated exclusively to toys operated manually with the exception of some railway tracks. This is a perfect place to take a break from modern toys overstuffing shops today as well as from PlayStations and Xboxs.
While children will be absorbed by the exploration of toys, parents can get into the world of nostalgia remembering their own childhood. Note, if you are afraid of the Chucky doll, you shouldn’t got to the museum alone since some of its old-fashioned toys are creating a rather creepy atmosphere during the days when the museum doesn’t have many visitors.
The location of Brussels Toy Museum
First of all, you can hear people referring to Brussels Toy Museum as to Speelgoedmuseum or Musée du Jouet as well depending on the language used for describing this place. If you are going to the museum by metro, the stop you will need to get to your destination is either Madou or Botanique. You can also get there by the trams 92 or 94. The exact address of the museum is A.S.B.L. Musée du Jouet Rue de l’Association, 24.
Toy Museum is located in a rather large mansion in the downtown part of Brussels quite close to Botanique. The building has in total twenty rooms and around a thousand of square metres. Such a large amount of space allows the museum to hold a colossal collection of games and add even more items to the display. All the three storeys of the building are filled with such an abundance of toys that the museum hardly uses any shelves for displaying the items.
The collection of toys in the museum
The majority of toys presented in the Brussels Toy Museum comes from Europe and especially from Belgium and Brussels itself. A great number of toys was donated by European families.
This museum of toys resembles of a huge storage of toys rather than a place where you can really learn something about the history of these items. Yet, it gives a very good picture of the toys which children used to play between 1950s and 1980s.
The first floor of the museum holds a collection of toy prams, child-sized wooden play-kitchens and rocking horses. The second floor is particularly impressive since here you will find a fool room of a marionette theatre where you and your family can enjoy real performances. Apart from this theatre, the floor also has a collection of shadow puppets, paper theatres as well as play castles.
The third floor of the Brussels Toy Museum is a place where children can enjoy a game of wooden tic-tac-toe played at one of two large tables.
We have already mentioned the railway track sets displayed at the museum at the beginning of the article. The most impressive of them is the one set in the scenery of typical Belgian countryside.
Other events at Brussels Toy Museum and tickets
As far as you can see, while visiting the Brussels museum of toys, you have a chance not only to enjoy its fascinating exhibitions, but also to watch performances held in the marionette theatre. Furthermore, there are many other special events organised by the museum including workshops with rhymes and lots of music as well as the performances using mechanical toys. There are also special Teddy Bear Days in the museum.
In addition to it, the museum is opened to all children just as a playground so the youngest visitors are always welcome to play here.
Since the offer of Toy Museum is so rich, you can purchase a season ticket which will let you to visit the museum every day during an entire year. The museum is open from 10 am to 12 am and, in two-hour break, it opens again at 2 pm and is closed at 6 pm. Note that the season tickets last for twelve months!
Brussels Toy Museum is one of the places of interest which you can visit with Brussels Card without paying extra cash for the entrance. Having one allows you not only to visit a large number of museums and galleries without purchasing tickets, but also to use public transport for free.
Still, the tickets to the museum are quite cheap. Thus, adults will pay €5.50 per ticket, whereas children, students, seniors as well as people coming in groups will pay €4.50. There is also a special offer for families. You can buy a special family ticket which will cover the costs of entrance fee for each person in your family. This ticket costs €18 and it can be a good option if your family has at least four members.
The prices of the season tickets are also affordable. A family ticket valid for twelve months costs 40 euros, whereas a season ticket for an adults costs 17 euros. Children will pay only 15 euros for year access to the toys displayed in the museum as well as its shows and workshops.