The exhibition features a broad selection of toys from the 1600s till the end of the 1900s. Here you will find games and tin soldiers, dolls and doll’s houses, a town of building-blocks and the rocking horse Rosalinde and lots more from the world of play.
Christmas 1896 was approaching. The Falck-Ytter family decided that Christmas presents were to cost no more than half a crown. The most innovative gift was to win a prize. Oluf Wilhelm Falck-Ytter won with his building-block city. No two parts are the same and 201 parts are preserved. Here we find everything from factories to manor houses, fortresses to churches. The blocks are painted in different colours with varied details. With time and patience one could get a lot out of half a crown in 1896 – and what a gift for a four-year old boy!
Norsk Folkemuseum has a large toy collection with more than 10 000 artefacts. The major part of the collection dates from the period 1850-1950. A considerable number of toys come from upper middle class homes and are related to girl’s play. This is not due to a policy of collecting at the museum, but rather to the fact that these toys were treated with care and thus preserved. The rougher and more immaterial play of boys has not left the same manifestations of childhood. Simpler and home made toys were often worn out by play and more seldom found their way into museum collections. However, we have a large range of toys from various social classes in urban and rural societies.