Childcare at V&A Museum of Childhood

The Museums childcare collection ranges in date from the 1600s to present day and shows the variety of equipment that has been designed and made specifically for children and their carers. The foundation of this group of items is the children's furniture, some of which has been in the Museum for over a hundred years, and which ranges from a 1641 cradle to an IKEA chair of 2001. Prams, feeding equipment, rattles and potties have been added, together with other aids for hygiene, eating and mobility. Sumptuous items probably intended as Christening or birth presents include a silver-gilt pap boat of 1809, an 1864 silver gilt set. A silver pap boat of 1735 is the earliest dated item in the group.