Today was the last day for the International Museum Day 2007. Having been to the Red Dot Design Museum yesterday with my sister, I was keen to see the Singaporean Childhood Exhibition at the Museum of Shanghai Toys.
I’m surprised that I didn’t know of the place earlier as it is along the stretch of road of Little India, which is one of my favourite haunts. But Rowley Road is quite a distance from the train station if one is going on foot. Luckily for me, I had my precious scooter.
I paid for the ticket. It was $5 if you could show the lady at the counter your Singaporean ATM card, else, entry for adults is $8. I went up the steep steps of the old shophouse.
The exhibition focused on toys from the 50’s to the 70’s and I was thoroughly fascinated by the amount of toys there and the history that came with it.
Did you know that in ancient China, dolls were used as charms to be buried with the dead? Thats why when Europe, the largest manufacturer of dolls during the time started to export them to China, many of them were too afraid of it.
I really liked looking at the toys, some really super cool :
Rawr! Godzilla!
I used to have a doll just exactly like that one in Red
But there were also some freaky ones :
And there were those which were just plain insane!
But it was all good. It was humorous and showed the innocence of toys during the era. I enjoyed the exhibition and there were plenty of toys that made me feel nostalgia. It was amazing to find many of toys here which I have played with as a child.
Which kid in the 80’s dont remember these colourful animals? We used these shapes to play Tikam.
I even remember the black toy on the left where you can shoot aliens with. All the toys in the picture above were made in Singapore.
And now that I looked at the exhibition, I realise that I could possibly have had a vintage toy with me.
I used to hava a toy bear with the exact cloth logo by its side. Too bad my bear got so worn out that it was thrown away 🙁
I was almost sorry to have to leave the museum. It was really nice to be surrounded by so much toys. Such a lovely place. Do go if you have the time. Then you could treat yourself to some yummilicious food at Little India afterwards! 🙂
Gosh. What great exhibits.
And to think my office is like 2 mins away from Red Dot. And I missed this!!! Bahh!
Hope you don’t mind but i place a link for your terrific blogariffic. 🙂
Hey….I use to have the same red doll as you did too..she was definitely one of my favourites.
oooh… looks interesting!
i shld really do the singaporean touristy thing myself – there are so many places of interest in spore that i’ve never been to myself. and so i get totally flabbergasted when a non-local friend/colleague asks me to bring them ard, cos i usu have no idea wat to recc. 🙁
Edroos
You work near the red dot museum? Cool! Not sure if the exhibition will still be there since the Museum festival is over. The toy museum is located at little india though. For both of the exhibits, I wish it were more hands on. I’d like to try and touch everthing 🙂 Hehehe
timtams
Really brings memories doesnt it? Gosh! I wish I still had my toys with me! It must be worth a small fortune now. Erg!!!
Snack Monster
I enjoyed it alot. It really brings alot of nostalgia when looking back at the toys. Seriously there are quite a number of toys which I can recognize during my childhood days.
Go go … and take your time looking at each exhibit. I think you’ll like the place 🙂
Hey Marina thanks for the plug for MOST. Glad that you enjoyed the visit and also participated in IMD’07. Do you know that they have a blog too? The URL is at http://shanghaitoys.wordpress.com/
Go check it out!
Walter
Cool! I didnt know that there was a blog for MOST …Awesomeness :):) Thank you for the link!
eh?
cn take pic @ e toy museum?
i tot cannot?is e toy museum n shanghai toy museum e same plc?
Same place I think 🙂 Hehehehe
I personally love vintage toys. It’s fun finding the toys you had as a kid, or the ones you always wanted.
I like to imagine how it was like during those times too 🙂 The kid playing with it, what room the kid is in, the decorations, the furnishing … :]
Great review! We were also quite impressed by what we saw at MoST. Marvin’s done a wonderful job with the limited resources he has.
Do check out our review here too:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/enrichment/museum-shanghai-toys-most
What on earth is that baby head with wheels? Or the torso? Is that actually a toy???