Titled 2019Wooden
Toy
Master

N° 01 · Hasan Efendi 1565 → today · Eyüp Sultan

Five hundred years,
thirty
toys,
one master.

Eyüp Sultan's five-century toy tradition lives on in Şennur Ülker's workshop — and children are learning to make it.

Wood, earthenware, leather and string. Paints are EN71-certified, natural and water-based. Nothing harmful to children — no MDF, no substitutes for real wood — is ever used in our toys.

We work like one of the hundred toy shops Evliya Çelebi described in his Seyahatnâme: holding workshops, running a museum, introducing Eyüp Toys to new generations. All at the same address: İslambey 55B.

Şennur Ülker · Master of Eyüp Toys

Fig. 01 · WorkshopŞennur Ülker, demonstrating the whistling jug by sound

School groups · 10–50 peopleBook a workshop 43 traditional toys · 2 seriesBrowse the shop

● School groups · workshop seats 80 students/● Karagöz workshop · with Ministry of Culture artists/● Open · Mon–Sat · 09:30–18:00/● Parking available · İslambey 55B/● EN71-certified water-based acrylic paints/● Ministry of Culture Wooden Toy Master · 2019/● Şennur Ülker · Master of Eyüp Toys/● @eyupoyuncakcisi · Instagram/● School groups · workshop seats 80 students/● Karagöz workshop · with Ministry of Culture artists/● Open · Mon–Sat · 09:30–18:00/● Parking available · İslambey 55B/● EN71-certified water-based acrylic paints/● Ministry of Culture Wooden Toy Master · 2019/● Şennur Ülker · Master of Eyüp Toys/● @eyupoyuncakcisi · Instagram/

Eleven workshops, by reservation.

N° 02 · Instructor

Şennur Ülker

and the workshop team · two floors, seating 80 students

N° 01Signature

Historic Eyüp Toys

— Tarihi Eyüp Oyuncakları

Eyüp toy-making is told through folk tales; every child picks an unpainted Eyüp toy, paints it, and takes it home as a gift.

Time 90–120 min

Ages 4–14

Call for pricing→

N° 02Individual

Individual Session

— Bireysel Oyuncak Atölyesi

For individuals and small groups: 22 Eyüp toys are introduced; the chosen toy is assembled and painted together.

Time 120–150 min

Ages 3–10

Call for pricing→

N° 03Single toy

Acrobat Toy

— Cambaz Atölyesi

The acrobat's story is told through tales; the pieces are painted and the toy is assembled together.

Time 120 min

Ages 9–14

Call for pricing→

N° 05Shadow play

Shadow Play

— Hacivat & Karagöz

Wooden shadow-play figures are sanded, assembled and painted alongside Ministry of Culture shadow-play artists.

Time 90–120 min

Ages 9–14

Call for pricing→

N° 04Assembly

Prince Rattle Cart

— Şehzade Oyuncağı

The princes' Çınçın Cart: 20 wooden parts assembled step by step with hand tools, then painted.

Time 150–180 min

Ages 14+

Call for pricing→

N° 06Little ones

Miniature Painting

— Minyatür Boyama

Whirligigs, spinning tops and miniature Eyüp toys are painted to the telling of folk tales.

Time 150–180 min

Ages 4–14

Call for pricing→

N° 07Sister craft

Marbling on Drum Skin

— Ebru Atölyesi

The art of marbling is introduced; marbling is applied to a drum's leather skin, its sides painted in acrylics.

Time 120 min

Ages 4+

Call for pricing→

N° 08Pedagogical

Pedagogical Observation

— Kişilik ve Karakter Analizi

The toy-choosing and story-building session is observed by a sociologist; the findings are shared with the family.

Time 180 min

Ages 3–10

Call for pricing→

N° 10Special day

Birthday Workshop

— Doğum Günü Atölyesi

Celebrate a birthday in a workshop full of toys; Eyüp toys offered as gifts or as a painting activity.

Time 4 hours

Ages All ages

Call for pricing→

See all eleven workshops →

Fig. 03 · PortraitŞennur Ülker, in the workshop

N° 03 · Story

Retying a thread that had snapped.

Toy-making in Eyüp Sultan began with Hasan Efendi in the 1500s and ran for centuries — until 1955, when the last master gave up production and the craft fell silent. In 2005 a joint project of the History Foundation, Eyüp Municipality and İşkur trained a new generation of masters.

One of them, Şennur Ülker, founded the Traditional Eyüp Toymaker in 2017 to carry the tradition on. In 2019 she was granted the Ministry of Culture's Wooden Toy Master title. Today the toys are once again made in Eyüp — and made by hand.

1565Hasan Efendi designs more than 30 toys on the road he began for his grandchildren; Eyüp toy-making is bornFirst master

1635Evliya Çelebi records 100 shops and 105 toy masters in his SeyahatnâmeSeyahatnâme

1955The last master, Halit Şengöz, gives up production; the first era ends after 455 yearsLast master

2005The History Foundation, Eyüp Municipality and İşkur project trains new Eyüp Toy MastersRebirth

2017Şennur Ülker founds the Traditional Eyüp ToymakerFounded

2019Şennur Ülker is granted the Wooden Toy Master titleMinistry of Culture

Forty-three toys. All by hand.

N° 04 · Orders

+90 543 725 72 44

By phone or WhatsApp · or pick up at the workshop

N° 01Ask for price

N° 05 · Museum · Above the shop

Eyüp Toys Museum

The museum above the shop.

Thirty kinds of traditional Eyüp toys, genuine-leather Hacivat and Karagöz shadow figures with their original screen, the kitre doll honouring the first master, archive photographs and newspaper clippings — all on the floor above the workshop.

Please reserve museum visits by phone.