Museum of Childhood: Revisit the Magic World of Childhood

The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green (East London) is a museum for what its name implies...childhood. It is a special museum that forms a part of the V&A museum located in South Kensington. It holds a permanent collection of toys, books, games and other objects from the past four centuries. It is an interesting place for seeing the evolution of children’s stuff form the 16 century to modern day. One can get lost in reminiscing one’s childhood and in seeing the characters and stories from one’s early life. It is an intriguing and nostalgic place for adults to visit, and an exciting place for children to explore.

The museum also hosts a number of temporary exhibitions that are changed every couple of months. At the moment, there are several interesting exhibitions worth visiting:

• The front room of the museum has been taken over by ‘Dreams and Nightmares’. The exhibition has been put together by artists who worked with local primary school children. There are drawings and collage made on stories and nightmares. It makes one reflect on the importance of dreams, and nightmares, - and how essentially life is very similar to dreams and nightmares....

• The front room also hosts a small photograph exhibition by a well-known artist Julia Margaret Cameron. She has photographed children over many years and managed to capture the innocence of childhood very effectively. The photos are captivating with their angelic aura. They truly bring out the beauty of this fragile phase in our lives.

• As you venture into the main area of the museum, in the central area, there is a small exhibition by Cathie Pilkington that consist of small status of storybook characters. The statues have been constructed with mixed media (meal, wood, thread....) and painted with bright colours. Each one of them looks very real and it feels as if the characters from a story book have come alive.

• On the first floor is the main temporary exhibition ‘Magic Worlds’. The exhibition is precisely about what it’s blurb introduction states: ‘to step into a magical world is to leave reality behind and accept the fantastical’. The exhibition hosts snippets from a range of well-known stories. You can revisit Cinderella, Hans and Gretel, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings...

• ‘Magic Worlds’ is followed by a special exhibition on ‘Magic’. It contains equipment that magicians have used over decades and information, as well as films, on famous magicians and their key tricks. The films and video footage nicely compliment the text and objects presented in the exhibition.

• ‘Fairyland’ is found on the first floor after the ‘Magic’ exhibition. The ‘Fairyland’ covers the history of fairies and most well-known fairy stories. There is also a small section dedicated to other imaginary creatures, such as witches and dragons.

* Finally, in the corridor leading from the temporary exhibition to the permanent collections, ‘The Imagination of Children‘ presents pencil drawings of children when they are lost in their imagination with their eyes closed. The pictures depict the active imagination of children effectively and highlight the importance of it in childhood.... as well as the fact how adults often lose their ability to imagine as they grow older.

The exhibitions make the visitor reflect on how our lives are like stories that we are the lead characters in and can control. It hist the essence of life in the words from Shakespear’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ - ‘It’s all but a dream’. So dream on and dream a dream that you want to dream. Go and remind of yourself of your dreams in this exhibition!

www.vam.ac.uk/moc