Indianapolis Children's Museum Review, 2011

B & J pose in front of the Chihuli blown glass masterpiece in 2006

  We had so many photos to share from our most recent field trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum that I decided to write a short review! Last Tuesday we visited the museum with friends who attend public school and were on spring break!  This is our favorite museum and if you are ever near Indy, you really should stop by!  Several years ago we had to take my son to the pediatric ophthalmologist in Indianapolis about every three months, so we bought a membership and started going to the museum on those days, as a reward and a field trip.  (Can you tell in the photo above who needed a nap? :) )The staff there are friendly, helpful, and they make a lot of the galleries "come to life" through interpretive drama and presentations.

B enjoyed dressing up in the new Costumes from Movies and TV exhibit

With five floors, the Indianapolis Children's Museum is known as the largest children's museum in the world and it has a huge variety of galleries and activities for a wide age range.  In one day we rode the carousel, saw a 17 foot tall Transformer, saw real costumes from movies and TV, dug for dinosaur bones, created dinosaur rubbings, planted seeds, and dissected flowers, among other things.  We can never see everything at the museum in one day!

Transformer Bumblebee

The children that we took to the museum on this day were between the ages of 7 - 12, so we did not even explore some of the areas that were designed more for preschoolers, like we used to do!  Playscape has hand-on preschool activities like a water table, dress-up area, and other types of creative play.  There are wonderful permanent galleries and others that change periodically, so there is always something new to see.  There are also family and homeschool workshops scheduled in the Events heading on the website and every few months there are short plays performed in the Lilly Theater.  There is also a wonderful planetarium with movies about the stars and other things that run each day. I hope some of you can visit this museum sometime!  Educational opportunities abound there and the "do not touch" rule does not apply at this museum either! 

We used a putty-like substance to cover this dinosaur "skull" and create our own model

If you are planning a visit, my main tip would be to go on a weekday and avoid Christmas break or the Indianapolis spring breaks.  We went once over Christmas with a friend and it was too crowded to enjoy, but we often go during the week and have loads of fun.  From Thanksgiving to the New Year there are Jolly Days activities, including a fun "yule slide", but we like to visit during the first half of December, before everyone else visits over the holiday break.You can find out more information by clicking on this link and going to their website at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

Jolly Days "snowball" battle

J and a friend build with giant Legos

Constructing this arch takes teamwork!

B disects a flower in the Science Port