About The Toy Museum of NY

When you walk into The Toy Museum of NY, you might see a Raggedy Ann doll. And another. And then another. Through this head-spinning proliferation of Anns and other characters—from Shirley Temple to Howdy Doody to Mr. Potato Head—kids and nostalgic adults explore changes in toymaking trends. Much of the collection of hundreds of dolls, games, and figurines from the 1880s–1980s is behind glass, so little hands get their passport to this wonderland of playthings via Queen Marlene's Toy Theatre. Kids gather around her singing, dancing highness for an illustrated tour through toyland as they’re invited up on stage to don costumes, play instruments, and perhaps diagnose an ailing doll’s stuffing troubles alongside other energetic, quick-witted actors. They can also attend the Special Toy Invention Program and learn about the invention of such cornerstones of American childhood as the Slinky, the Etch-A-Sketch, the Frisbee, and the empty refrigerator box.