TOY MUSEUMS AND VISITOR EXPERIENCES

Abstract

Play is an important action for child development. The material for playing games is called a “toy”.
Toys not only meet the entertainment needs of children, but also contribute to their social and
cognitive development. Since toysa re unforgettable in children’s life and symbolize many
memories even if the old toysa re not used, they have become important for adult individuals today.Hence, the idea of “toy museums” has emerged with the wxhibition of old toys. This study has been
prepared to gather information about toy museums and to determine the visitor experiences of those
who visit these mueseums.netnography method has been used in the study. In this process,
electronic comments shared by visitors on Google and TripAdvisor platforms have been used. In
this context, 4174 electronic comments about museums have been taken from the internet and
analyzed. As a result of the analysis, eight main themes have been obtained. As a result of the
interpretation of these themes; it has been observed that 64.2% of the child visitors and 90% of the
adult visitors have positive feelings and opinions about these museums and they are satisfied with
this museum experince. In addition, toy museums create the perception of returning to childhood
memories and experiencing nostalgic moments in adults, and also create the perception of children
playing and having a good time and interacting with toys.