London Open House Weekend 2025: Blocks, rods, bricks and fiddly bits

Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September, 11.00am to 5.00pm

Pollock’s Toy Museum Croydon, Unit 49, Whitgift Centre, CR0 1UQ

A man works on a Mapl construction kit model with an intense expression of concentration. He is slotting a piece shaped like a circular cog with spokes into another piece that is more angular, to make his creation taller.
A group of people take part in a workshop in an open-plan room, playing with the giant Mapl construction kit to make abstract structures and models.
A woman smiles as she looks at a number of large pieces from the abstract Mapl construction kit, and plans how she will link them together.

For London Open House Weekend this year, enjoy your chance to see 150 years of children’s construction sets from the Pollock’s Toy Museum reserve collection, together with specially borrowed examples, at the Croydon pop-up. We’ll have everything from simple stacking bricks and familiar childhood favourites to historical rarities on show, along with a programme of activities. This is also a rare opportunity to visit the museum on a Sunday.

Activities in the Croydon Museum for Open House Weekend

  • Try your hand at a career in construction with vintage sets on our family-friendly miniature building site. Drop in any time, hard hats optional!
  • Talks at 12.00 noon and 2.00pm by Dr Alan Powers, architectural historian and chairman of Pollock’s Toy Museum Trust. Talks last 30 minutes.
  • On Sunday only, at 11.00am and 2.30pm, join in creating giant, imaginative constructions using architect Ambrose Gillick’s lightweight ‘Mapl’ (making play) system. Workshops last 90 minutes. All ages are welcome and places are bookable via London Open House. Drop-ins may be possible, depending on availability.
A man sits on the floor reaching out to a large abstract model made up of wooden or cardboard pieces that slot together, from the Mapl construction kit. He is surrounded by other models and workshop participants.
Photo of the box art from a vintage Bayko Building Set, "a fascinating pastime for all ages". On the picture a young boy and girl dressed in clothing from the 1950s are admiring a suburban house they have made from the kit.