My Museum Buddy and I - At the Museum with a Three-Year-Old Part 3

The Daily Paper Museum is closed for renovations until autumn 2023. The Five Wonderful Treasures exhibition featured in this article was visited in 2017.

Article published 20.7.2018, updated with new exhibition information 7.3.2018

Carrots, cauliflower and a boat trip on a wooden raft. Where exactly are we?

[caption id="attachment_495" align="alignleft" width="1000"] The vegetable garden in the Five Wonderful Treasures exhibition.[/caption]

It’s very easy to walk past the Daily Paper Museum without realizing what a wonderful museum lies behind those glass windows! Maintained by the Helsinki Newspaper Foundation, the museum showcases the history, present day and future of media, as well as freedom of speech in its permanent exhibitions. The exhibitions also feature various machines and devices from the media field, and it’s worth trying to guess what they are with children. Apparently, a rotary phone was once a cash register…

[caption id=“attachment_488” align=“aligncenter” width=“1000”] The Daily Paper Museum is located on Ludviginkatu street.[/caption]

The museum also has a reading room where you can stop by to read the day’s newspapers and explore a comprehensive reference library on media topics, even while the baby takes an afternoon nap in their stroller.

Currently on display as a rotating exhibition is the Five Wonderful Treasures - An Adventure into Textbook Illustrations exhibition, which is an excellent place to visit with children.

[caption id=“attachment_491” align=“aligncenter” width=“1000”] Five Wonderful Treasures - An Adventure into Textbook Illustrations exhibition.[/caption]

Five Wonderful Treasures is a visually stunning exhibition where you can adventure through beautifully designed spaces based on textbook illustrations. It certainly brings to mind Stockholm’s Junibacken, though on a smaller scale.

At the exhibition, you can solve a puzzle by collecting clues along the way, but time passed enjoyably even without the task, and there was plenty to wonder at. The slide was a huge hit, as were the hot air balloon and the boat trip on a wooden raft. We also admired the cauliflower and carrots in the garden, hopped on stones and pondered who might live in the small forest cottage. We had a wonderful time here - the baby happily crawled on the soft floor and our three-and-a-half-year-old would have read books from the book basket in the museum lobby for the rest of the afternoon.

[caption id=“attachment_487” align=“aligncenter” width=“1000”] You can sail on a blue sea in a wooden raft.[/caption]

Overall, the Daily Paper Museum is an interesting and well-executed look at the history and present day of media and printed materials, and the Five Wonderful Treasures exhibition is absolutely magnificent.

You can access the museum well with strollers, but strollers cannot be taken into the Five Wonderful Treasures exhibition due to the grass mat. Without a stroller, the museum is easy to navigate, and even better with a baby carrier. On the soft surface, even the smallest visitors can explore and wonder at the textbook illustrations and feel the grass mat.

[caption id=“attachment_490” align=“aligncenter” width=“1334”] Where in the Daily Paper Museum might you find this message?[/caption]

Special mention and thanks go to the very clean and functional child care facility connected to the accessible restroom. The care facility also has a potty. At the back of the museum, next to the restroom area, you’ll find lockable storage lockers and coat hooks. The friendly staff told us about the exhibition of their own initiative during our last visit, and families with children were treated very well.

The Five Wonderful Treasures exhibition is on display at the Daily Paper Museum until 1.10.2017. Free guided tours of the exhibition are also organized; schedule information can be found on the museum’s website.

[caption id=“attachment_496” align=“aligncenter” width=“1334”] The Daily Paper Museum is also suitable for the youngest museum visitors.[/caption]

Daily Paper Museum Ludviginkatu 2–4, Helsinki

Open Monday to Sunday 11am-5pm

Always free admission

You can find other parts of the Museum Buddy and Me museum series here

Do you dare take children to a museum? Share your opinion or tips about museums with children in the comment section or on Little Helsinki’s Facebook page.