Top Fun Aviation Toy Museum About the Museum: What You’ll See at the Museum / Purpose / Links to Founding Documents What You’ll See at the Museum You don’t have to be a pilot to enjoy Top Fun Aviation Toy Museum. Whether you want to browse through the displays, test fly your own paper airplane or balsa glider, or relax and listen to an aviation-related film, Top Fun has something to interest everyone in the family. This is the first—and only—toy museum in the world that’s completely devoted to aviation-related toys. The large airy rooms of the Old Murdock School are a wonderful venue for displaying some of the almost 2,000 toys in the collection.   Included in the Museum’s collection are fine tin toys from Japan, Hungary, Germany, and the United States. Among toys created out of “found materials” are a helicopter and an airplane made by children in Burkina Faso, which were fashioned from Dutch milk tins with the help of a Peace Corps worker; the wheels look very much like they were made from the soles of “flip-flops.” An early version of Bugs Bunny and aircraft in cast iron joins a rubber Mickey Mouse and plane, while Olive Oyl waves to her admirers from one of our older die-cast metal aircraft. Bart Simpson also makes an appearance in a newer plastic plane. Perhaps the oldest item in the collection at the moment is a card came, “Lindy, the New Flying Game,” which came out just after Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic in 1927. If you play your cards right in this games, you get to fly the Atlantic, too, all without leaving the kitchen table. The selection fo cards—gasoline, mileage, take-off, and weather cards, as well as cards that get you a new plane or allow you to jump from the plane with your parachute—says a lot about the state of aviation in those days! If you collect enough miles—and don’t lose your plane—you win! This is a replica. Many of the originals were melted down to make real planes in World War II. Wooden and plastic toys, both contemporary and older, puzzles, and a variety of games round out the collection. And ride-on airplanes of various vintages, among them a reproduction of the type of pedal plane produced in the 1930s, wait in their chocks just as they would in any child’s dream airport. You’ll want to check out the activity at the Museum’s “On-the-Wall Airport,” which covers an entire wall in one room of the Museum. The runway, planes, people, and colorful buildings provide visitors with a feeling of what it’s like to be flying overhead and looking at the activities on the ground. Whether you are an adult or a child, we hope the displays will help you understand better how aviation works and how it has transformed both the United States and the world. There is a growing need for young people to move into aviation careers—and these go beyond the pilot and flight attendant careers that most people think of, to include engineering, design, information technology, maintenance, among others. Our goal is to help young men and women learn about these opportunities and how to pursue them. Return to top of page Purpose Top Fun Aviation Toy Museum, Inc., is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation established “In general, to operate an aviation toy museum for the acquisition, protection, preservation, and display of aviation-related toys. “To provide career guidance and encouragement— by encouraging both children and adults, especially those from depressed economic groups, to consider aviation-related careers, and to break down limitations imposed by economic, social, and gender barriers; by providing young men and women access to role models and educational materials that will help encourage them to pursue careers in aviation; by utilizing the museum’s collection and facilities to foster learning, creativity, and confidence along with a knowledge of how aircraft fly; by sponsoring activities for children and adults, in the form of special events and ongoing projects; “To provide public information— by maintaining a library and conveying accurate knowledge about aviation; by encouraging individuals to explore aviation in the context of toys; by sponsoring hands-on activities that will help increase the understanding of aviation and its economic importance; “To provide historical perspective— by presenting and preserving toys as illustrations of history and culture; by eploring what toys show us of how people have viewed aviation through history; by presenting and displaying and preserving toys in the context of individual lives and achievements; “To organize, operated and maintain facilities, programs, and activities, including operation and conduct of a gift shop, and to hold other fundraising events to promote the purposes of the corporation.” Return to top of page Links to Founding Documents Articles of Organization By-Laws Form 990   Home About the Museum News, Events, & Workshops Photos from Recent Events Virtual Museum Tour Museum Shop How to Join Fun Stuff Articles of Organization By-Laws Form 990 Return to top of page