Ales, Sardinian traditional toy museum

The Traditional Toy Museum of Sardinia represents a valuable reference point for the enhancement and dissemination of the island's recreational heritage. Inaugurated on December 14, 2002 in Zeppara, a small hamlet of the municipality of Ales (OR), it has its roots in an initiative started in 1993 by Nando Cossu, a literature teacher at the local State Middle School.
The idea was born to involve a class of 22 students in afternoon educational activities and thanks to the collaboration of their families, especially the elderly who volunteered to implement the initiative. Together they began researching and making traditional toys. The quantity of materials was such that, at the end of the school year, it was decided to set up an exhibition at the Industrial Technical Institute of Ales. The event attracted the attention of professors from the Institute of Popular Traditions of the University of Cagliari, who offered their scientific support. The exhibition later moved to Cagliari in May 1996, achieving significant success.
Later, for about three years, the collection continued to be exhibited at the school, but management difficulties led to its transfer to the municipality of Ales, which undertook to enhance these precious objects through the creation of a dedicated museum. This is how the Traditional Toy Museum of Sardinia was born, a place that not only celebrates the history and culture of the game, but also helps to keep local traditions alive for future generations.
The museum is set up inside the former primary school building, spread over six rooms spread over a single floor, for a total of about 600 square meters. It is a collection widely representative of the entire region, which faithfully reconstructs the original toys divided into various thematic sections that include: sound toys, toys related to holidays, toys imitating means of transport, toys imitating weapons, hobbies, a section dedicated to dolls (is pipias de zappu) and finally toys functional to movement.

Why is it important to visit it
The Museum of Traditional Toys of Sardinia does not want to be a mere passive container but an active mechanism, capable of offering a cultural proposal that meets both the needs of children and adults, a museum for everyone, open to dialogue with other institutions and cultural realities, with different artistic and artisanal expressions, a living and empathetic reality capable of involving the visitor, encouraging reflection and creating circularity.