Best of InACents: The Indianapolis Children’s Museum

Prior to having kids, I can rightly admit I had no interest in going to a Children’s Museum. I guess the biggest reason for not having a desire to go to a museum full of kids is I imagined it was just a giant playground and nothing I could relate too. However, after having our own kids, we naturally had to start visiting Children’s Museums.

Logically, the first museum we visited was the Cleveland Children’s Museum, and the boys always had a really good time, allowing them to interact with other kids, as well as develop their fine motor skills. My expectations for visiting a museum dedicated to younger patrons still did not overly excite me for another visit, but that is because I did not know what a well designed Children’s Museum could become.

Our purpose of our trip to Indianapolis was to visit a friend, and we had no initial plans on what to see. As typical, I plan the logistics and upfront portions of the trip, and leave the daily itineraries up to Mrs. InACents. We make an excellent complementary pair of travelers, and both enjoy the portions we plan.

Mrs. InACents pulled up her handy Trip Advisor app on her iPhone during the drive and started mapping out a plan. At the top of the list was the Indianapolis Children’s Museum and Indianapolis Zoo, so we tentatively scheduled to try and see both during our short weekend visit. As it turned out though, due to the heat and lack of time from a flat tire repair, we only managed to get in the Children’s Museum, but what a spectacular decision it was!

Upon pulling onto the Children’s Museum grounds (3000 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46208), I knew there were big things in store when we saw huge dinosaurs busting in and out of the museum walls. This was a sure sign of the attention to details that the Architects and Designers put into the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.

Upon entering the lobby of the museum, one can not help but notice the large statue of Bumble Bee from the Transformers movies. However, another large thing that gets overshadowed by Bumble Bee is the price tag to get into the museum. The overwhelming negative from Trip Advisor reviews was the cost to enter the museum; however, as you will see by the end of this report, we thought the price was more than fair considering all that was in the museum. The cost ($17.50/Adult; $12.50/Child (2-17)) also had no impact on the crowds on a hot July Saturday, as the place was packed from open until close.

By the way, as I have mentioned before, Target sponsors a free night at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum the first Thursday of each month from 4-8:00 PM.

Shortly after entering the museum, we realized there was about to be a show featuring Bumble Bee from the Transformers in the museum atrium. Adults and kids anxiously sat around, unsure exactly what they were about to see. Our video captures it best, as we were shocked at what we were about to see.

After everyone picked up their jaws from watching Bumble Bee transform, we moved into the heart of the museum. First up was the National Geographic Treasures of the Earth exhibit. This was another one of the ah-ha moments within the museum that the geniuses that designed everything were excellent theme creators.

Guest loaded into an elevator disguised as an old excavation shaft. As the doors closed, the lights dimmed and the television on the wall began to highlight the three areas on the lower level we were being taken into. The area was divided up into an ancient Egyptian tomb, an underwater dive excavation, and an excavation site of the Chinese terra-cotta warriors site.

The brilliance of the museum curators came to life in this section with a wonderful combination of real artifacts and hands-on displays perfect for little hands. Kids could “scan” a mummy to answer questions and determine if there were signs from when he lived; they could witness a wet lab where artifacts discovered from the ocean were preserved and/or electrically charged to remove deposits; or dig up pieces of terra-cotta warrior statues and assemble them.

As we watched our kids in the terra-cotta warrior excavation area, we soon began to realize just how smart the museum curators were in designing the exhibit. Rather than pieces of statue being covered up in sand, where the sand would get tracked out everywhere and make a mess, the pieces of statue were buried in a larger aggregate sand that had been lightly bonded together. That meant that kids actually were using techniques to “chisel” away the debris to uncover the artifacts, resulting in less mess and more reality.

Adjacent to the dig area were statues of terra-cotta warriors that could be assembled with varying levels of intricacy.

Shows are an integral part to the experience at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. Included in the price of admission are several shows available throughout the day. Tickets are handed out on a first come, first serve basis, so if you have any interest, get your tickets early once inside the museum.

We saw One Earth, One Sky in the planetarium, which features Big Bird and Elmo from Sesame Street. Both of our boys seemed to enjoy the show. What really surprised us was a life action performance from the book “How I Became a Pirate.” Initially our three-year old was a little apprehensive about seeing a show about pirates, but the show was whimsical and entertaining for kids of all ages. After seeing this show, I knew we easily had gotten our money worth out of visiting the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.

I can now compare the Indy Children’s Museum to Disney theme parks. Both are in the business of knowing how to entertain their guests and show a perceived value out of the experience. The Children’s Museum not only entertained all of us (adults included) but also provided a very dynamic and balanced level of interaction from our children.

A perfect example was the area labeled Take Me There -> Egypt. Instead of a mock-up food area, which seems typical of Children’s Museum, there was an entire section dedicated towards the Egyptian lifestyle. Even though we have never been to Egypt, the area was authentic and realistic for what we would expect from the Egyptian culture.

The lower level of the building was filled with a combination of trains and dinosaurs. You can only guess which area we spent a great deal of time in (and which some little guy refused to enter).

We quickly took turns going through the Dinosaur area, which had an excellent assortment of learning area. Guest could watch real paleontologists preserving ancient bones, hear curators tell prehistoric tales of the past, or there was another Dinosaur Dig area similar to the terra-cotta warrior area.

Fireworks of Glass is the largest permanent sculpture by glass artist Dale Chihuly in the atrium of the museum. The 43-foot-tall tower took more than 14 days to install. There are more than 3,200 pieces of glass in the sculpture and an additional 1,600 in the ceiling.

The dining area on the lower level of the museum was cafeteria style, and offered an excellent assortment of hot and cold dishes, from your typical hot dogs and hamburgers to healthy snacks and wraps. I enjoyed a buffalo chicken wrap that was excellent and kept me filled for the day.

After eating lunch, we headed back up into the Hot Wheels for Real exhibit. Once inside, we not only saw real-life creations of Hot Wheels models, but interactive displays and miniature cars kids could take their picture in, and my personal favorite, classic Hot Wheels toys along with displays highlighting the creation process. While the kids just loved seeing all the toys, I thoroughly got a kick out of seeing all the cars I had as a kid, including my favorite Crack-Ups series.

I still can not fully grasp how this last car, created in 2008 for the 40th Anniversary of Hot Wheels, could hold almost 3,000 blue diamonds, rubies, and gold. Looking at it, does it look like that many gems?

While the Indianapolis Children’s Museum was geared towards, well children, it was because of displays like the Hot Wheels and Lego areas that allowed us adults to relate, seeing as we had all played with these same toys when we were kids.

Jumping over to the Lego exhibit, one can not help but be in awe of the people who get to design and construct these elaborate, and large, models.

Finally, at the end of the day we went up to the top level of the museum to ride the carousel. Am I the only one that is fascinated with how the building is able to support a carousel on the fourth floor?

Our family spent and entire day at the museum, from opening until close, and still did not get to see everything. We walked away feeling really good for having experienced the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. Well, actually we had an “End of the Day Parade.”

If at all possible, we recommend staying to the very end of the day at the museum. Make your way all the way to the top of the museum atrium, where they line up all the guests and have an “End of the Day Parade” down to the main level. Dare I say, the employees were almost more delightful and exciting to watch during the parade than the parade escorts at Disney. Still, it was a VERY smart way to announce to all guests that “Hey, it is time to go home.”

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