From October 20 to March 11, 2018, the National Museum of Sport revisits childhood and dedicates its new temporary exhibition to sports games and toys.
Consumable items and leisure tools, toys also provide valuable information about the preferences of children, the adults who give them, and, more generally, about contemporary society.
While toys have a rich and ancient history, sports toys are more recent, having been created only in the second half of the 19th century. Born from the Industrial Revolution and the rise of sports developed and valued in British elite institutions, sports toys today are symbolic of the advent of digital technology, globalization, and the evolution of sports practice.
On 500 square meters, the exhibition Play! offers an original, playful, and interactive discovery for children aged 7 to 77. Within a journey imagined in the form of the famous game of the goose, “old-fashioned” creations, true works of art from our parents’ era, stand alongside, among others, video games (from the oldest to the most futuristic) and the famous merchandise from the greatest sporting events.
In total, nearly 300 objects from the museum’s collections, as well as from other museum institutions or private collectors, will punctuate the path to allow visitors to play, have fun, and learn as a family.
