The Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls, and Toys

After a visit to the Denver Mint and Hammond’s Candy Factory, we made our final stop at the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls, and Toys.  I’m not sure I would have heard of this museum except for the fact that they do a pay-what-you-can admission day once a month so I’ve been including that on the monthly free admission days post for quite awhile.

This museum is located in an historic home near Denver’s  City Park, so for me it was as much an architectural tour as a toy museum.

A good portion of the exhibits is doll houses in various sizes and styles, from Victorian mansions to a Spanish hacienda, the latter of which was one of my favorites just because it was pretty unique.

Barbie had a display dedicated to her, as well as various dolls that were modeled after storybook characters.  One of the largest non-dollhouse displays was a whole bedroom full of Polly Pockets!

A few model trains were on display, and the above old-time circus diorama was one of my favorites.

Throughout the museum were various toys that kids could actually play with – a Lego table, a vintage Little People farm, mancala, and a dollhouse, among other things.  My littlest two enjoyed that as much as anything!

We totally forgot to go to the basement, so I don’t know what was down there.  My son was hoping to see military figures but there weren’t many of those.  Now we’re wondering if they were just downstairs and we missed them.

It was fun to read the responses to the question “What is the one toy you always wanted growing up?”.

The museum is an eclectic mix of toys and they’ve done a good job making it enjoyable for young and old alike.  Don’t expect anything near Smithsonian quality, but we really enjoyed our visit.  I think it would be a really fun place to visit with a grandparent, as I’m sure it would encourage lots of reminiscing!

You can find out more about the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls, and Toys on their website.