Museum of Childhood

Overview

2024 Update - The Museum of Childhood is open but Gallery 2 is closed for maintenance work at the time of writing (8 Feb 24).

The Edinburgh Museum of Childhood opened in 1955, and was the first museum in the world to specialise in the history of childhood.

The museum shows the evolution of different categories of toys, with galleries featuring dolls, slot machines, toy trains, hobbies, games, pedal cars, bicycles and anything else that can be considered to be a childhood entertainment.

The museum does feel a bit dated and there aren’t many displays that children can interact with, but it’s free and worth a visit if you have the time. We expect that Grandparents will enjoy visiting with Grandchildren as there are lots of toys that older visitors will recognise.

We recommend putting 10p in the “Sweeney Todd” and “Haunted House” slot machines in Gallery 1.