The Indianapolis Children's Musuem is the largest Children's museum in the world, and like Disneyland, is impossible to see in just one day, so we went two full days in a row.
A small portion of the exterior of the museum. It fills an entire city block and is 5 stories tall.
One of many daily live shows. This one was tied in with the "Avatar" exhibit, showing how computer animation using a human model pasted up with sensors makes the movement more realistic.
An interior shot of one of the buildings (there are several connected buildings).
A Dale Chihuly blown glass sculpture extending 5 stories tall.
There is a full size antique carousel on the 5th floor. ( I told you this place was BIG).
I live performance with a pirate, talking about identifying undersea shipwrecks through scientific deduction.
I live musical theater production.
Little K stands with the cast after the show. I ended up seeing it twice, since A wanted to see it the first day while K did something else. It's great now that the girls are 11 and 13, and can go independently to see what appeals to them. We had a "meeting spot" and we would all check in together once an hour, and plan where we'd go next.
Little K's favorite exhibit was "Take me There..." You enter through the plane, by taking a seat and having a simulated landing, and then exiting the other side of the plane into another country (without having to go through customs). The exhibit was all about Egypt, and they had several "homes" set up for kids to see what life would be like if they lived there, plus businesses, pretend foods, and live cultural events with museum staff in costumes. K could have easily spent all day in this exhibit.
A's favorite exhibit remains "The Power of Children," profiling the brave struggles of Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and Ryan White. She'll never forget the time we visited the exhibit a few years ago and Ryan's mom and sister were there in person, to talk about him. You can read more about it, and the exhibit, by scrolling down in this post from 2009.
Time for lunch! The first day I splurged and we had lunch in the cafeteria. The museum has an extensive selection of food options to please all palates.
The second day I packed a lunch and we "tailgated" it. It was blistering hot. So hot...
I'd packed cheese in the cooler, and we put it on buns and left them on the dash while we ate fruit and yogurt, and soon we had melted cheese sandwhiches!
Back into the museum, the girls enjoyed the archeology exhibit. Here kids can assemble rubbery cast pieces of China's Terra Cotta Warriors.
Pieces of pottery and china go together like a puzzle, and clues are given to help you deduce the origin and age.
K commands a prime, central spot in the middle of the waterway.
Before we knew it, it was closing time. They have a parade from the 5th floor down to the exit that the girls always get a kick out of participating in.
Now for a stroll back in time:
Here's a photo of Little K at age 3 in front of the museum on her first visit there.
And at age 11, on the same statue (which had been relocated during an expansion remodel a few years back).
Wow! What an amazing place! I LOVE that glass sculpture in the atrium! And it's great that you have that "now & then" comparison from visiting years ago. We have not done very many repeat visits, but whenever we do, I love to think about that comparison, take photos if possible, and mentally relive a favorite memory.
That melted cheese sandwich trick was pretty clever. It reminds me of our "baked apple" experience in Winston-Salem last July.
Posted by: Randy Reid | Thursday, August 22, 2013 at 09:04 PM