Muizenhuis & Katten Kabinet - Amsterdam

Amsterdam is FULL of tiny, odd, museums and I finally got to take the Boys to see the Muis Mansion and Katten Kabinet. 

Muis Mansion is really a dollhouse material shop, featuring huge displays of a town inhabited by mice. The repurposed cardboard, beads, buttons and bottle caps are shaped into a sprawling complex of rooms. The stars of the village are Sam (in the blue shirt) and Julia (in the pink dress). They have a sizable family and many neighbors. Of course, you can find both Sinterklaas and Santa Klaus. My favorite might be Grandpa Sailor and his big bird 'tattoo' on his sweater. 

The shop offers a small Bingo Card scavenger hunt. Kids who complete it get a small coloring page (my favorite was the Museum page). AND the backside of the bingo card is printed with small items to decorate your dollhouse! Postcards, letters, book jackets, and more. You can download it from their webpage too. 

The boys loved the scavender hunt, going up and down the spiral staircase a few times to find it all. Choosing favorite rooms was hard and the boys were indecisive, but I settled on the five-room museum. It had Natural History, Ancient History, Art, .... ooh but the two story library was a close second. Bonus: The adorable classroom has a tiny owl in it. 

We went home with a tiny window to paint. When you open it, you can see a dislayed postcard of the Sam & Julia (or put your own photo inside)! If we go again, I might spring for the tiny door and postbox. They're just adorable. 

After a quick lunch we walked over to the Katten Kabinet. This one is less child friendly, but only because it's more dry. A man's beloved furball passed away and he began to collect cat posters and statues and the like. He collected so much, it was turned into a small museum (see, there's hope for my owl collection, yet). It even has a mummified cat (supposedly an ancient mummy, or I rather hope so... the plaque was pretty vague about it). I was surprised not to find any Owl and the Pussycat stuff, but I did find a binder with a decidedly Meowl print, and pencilwork print of cats around an owl. The boys liked the garden, but by the end of the very short circuit they were pretty bored. More fun for adults but it was a nice finish to the day. 

The only downside was that the boys couldn't pet the cat. He was tail-flipping the whole time, probably so overstimulated. I think I need to find a cat petting zoo, ha!