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Feel Playful at the Mexican Toy Museum, San Miguel De Allende

We bet Santa would love to get his hands on these toys!

A precious black-and-gold train made from bull horns.

Colorfully dressed Frida Kahlo dolls with dark furrowed eyebrows.

Airplanes fashioned from Coke cans.

More than 3,500 beautiful hand-crafted toys from across Mexico – each a one-of-a-kind treasure – are displayed at the Toy Museum (aka “Museo La Esquina”) in the fairy-tale city of San Miguel de Allende.

Get in touch with your inner child at the Toy Museum (Museo La Esquina) in San Miguel de Allende!
Get in touch with your inner child at the Toy Museum (Museo La Esquina) in San Miguel de Allende!

Toy Museum, San Miguel de Allende

A Frida doll at the Toy Museum, San Miguel de Allende
A Frida doll at the Toy Museum

We got our museum fix in the Mexican colonial cities of San Miguel de Allende and neighboring Guanajuato (a one-hour bus ride apart).

In Guanajuato, we saw human mummies at the macabre Mummy Museum and cool art at the Diego Rivera Museum.

Of the San Miguel de Allende museums, ceremonial ethnic Mexican masks grabbed our attention at Another Face of Mexico Museum – as did the whimsical toys at this Toy Museum.

Lots of colorful Mexican toys!

Toy wrestlers at Museo La Esquina, San Miguel de Allende
Toy wrestlers! Don’t mess with me, or I’ll wrestle ya to the ground!

Surprisingly large, the light-filled Toy Museum has four rooms, housed within a renovated old casona sporting exposed stone and skylights.

The toys are made from all sorts of materials – vegetable fibers, metal, papier mache, ceramic, cloth and wood.

One room contains a collection of toys representing public transport.

There are little metal boats which, in days gone by, could be powered by placing a birthday candle at the back to make them move while floating on water. A large train on a track is made from clay (an art form not practised anymore today).

Choo choo! Toy train…

Another room is one giant doll house with dolls galore. Some wear rustic hand-woven dresses.

Moving carousels, ferris wheels and carnival rides are found in the room devoted to toys displaying objects seen at a traditional Mexican fair.

Quite understandably, you can’t touch the toys. The museum could therefore be frustrating for small children.

The other visitors we saw were adults, getting in touch with their inner child (like us) just by looking.

The toy musuem in San Miguel de Allende is fun to visit!
More dolls…

Annual folk toy contest

Expect the museum’s collection to grow.

The Toy Museum now organizes an annual National Folk Toy Contest. Toy makers from 26 Mexican states competed in the last contest – their innovative creations are also showcased here.

If you visit Museo La Esquina, San Miguel de Allende

Hours:

Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm, and Sunday from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm

Admission:

50 pesos (about $2.50 USD) per adult

Address:

Nunez 40, Centro, San Miguel de Allende

More information:

See the Museo La Esquina’s website

See another toy museum in Mexico

There’s another Mexico toy museum – the Antique Toy Museum of Mexico (“Museo Juguete Antiguo”), located in Mexico City.

Created by a Mexican of Japanese descent, it contains more than 1 million pieces, including miniature toys the size of a pinhead. Some 40,000 classic toys are on display.

Experience more of Mexico!

Read our posts on:

Zihuatanejo | Want a great beach vacay? See the best beaches in Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa.

Mexico City | Spending three days in Mexico City? You’ll want to see this helpful itinerary covering the best museums, attractions and restaurants in the fabulous capital.

Puerto Vallarta | Where to stay? You’ll love these beautiful boutique hotels in Puerto Vallarta.


Photo credits: 2 to 5 © Janice and George Mucalov, SandInMySuitcase | 1 Museo La Esquina


About the authors

Luxury travel journalists and SATW, NATJA and TMAC “Best Travel Blog” award winners, Janice and George Mucalov are the publishers of Sand In My Suitcase. Between them, they’ve traveled to all 7 continents. See About.

Find destination guides, global food-and-wine stories, luxury hotel reviews, articles on cultural explorations and soft adventure trips, cruise reviews, insanely useful travel tips and more!

Sue

Thursday 18th of June 2015

Very interesting. Not at all "cute" like most American toys for young kids.

Muza-chan

Thursday 25th of September 2014

Love it :)

Irene S. Levine

Tuesday 9th of September 2014

Another reminder of the excellent craft and ingenuity of the Mexican people. Great pictures!