MPG-2015-cd

Miniaturk
Have you ever heard of a “toy
museum” before? If your answer
is “No”, then you should
travel to the Asian side of İstanbul and
head to Göztepe to visit the “Toy Museum”.
Opened in 2005 in a beautiful
several hundred years old mansion,
the museum involves more than 4000
toys ranging from toy soldiers to metal
cars, porcelain dolls and many more.
The museum also stages theatre plays
and organises games several days of
the week.
Miniaturk is an open park museum
containing miniature models of many
historical structures of İstanbul as well
as of Anatolia and Ottoman territories
outside Turkey. Opened in 2003, the
park contains 122 models including the
Blue Mosque, the Bosphorus Bridge
and many other monuments.
In the European side Rahmi Koç Museum,
İstanbul Modern and Sabancı
Musuem are also attractive places for
kids. In the museum the children not
only discover but also attend several
ateliers.
The Naval Museum in Beşiktaş has set
up a special room for children where
they can make puzzles about ships,
steer in a vessel or play games about
the navy.
İstanbul is filled with many public
parks. Yıldız Park near the Yıldız Palace,
Parkorman in Maslak, the Küçükçiftlik
Park in Maçka and Belgrad Forest in
Maslak (all in the European Side) have
wide areas for kids to play and all the
areas offer many facilities for children.
If your children love the animals and
water, then aquariums are the place
to visit. İstanbul has many aquariums
but two of main are “Turkuazoo” in
Bayrampaşa and “İstanbul Akvaryum”
in Florya; both in the European area
where children can “touch” behind
the glass sharks, octopuses and many
other animals.
Also in Dolphinarium in Eyüp, children
can have the chance to watch the dolphins
while making tricks or even to
swim with them.
“Vialand” that is located also in Eyüp,
is a mass theme and amusement park
that involves tens of facilities from
4D cinemas to water games, ferries
wheels, driving activities or scientific
discoveries.
Shopping malls in İstanbul provide
many enjoyable activities and amusement
parks for kids. One of them is the
“Jurassic Land” in İstanbul Forum in
Bayrampaşa. The biggest park in Europe
with the dinosaur theme, children
can see giant animals’ scale models,
watch movies about their lives, play
games, visit a museum and experience
a scenario based tour while getting to
know about dinosaurs.
Dining, Shopping
and Attractions