Indy Children’s Museum

Reconstructing a Warrior

The Indy Children’s museum has built on a lot since we started going. The have a lot of really cool exhibits. We only were able to see a few in the couple hours time we had – though we made it to the exhibit to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. There are lots of great opportunities to research everything and then go visit – or visit to spur interest and then research everything.

Terra Cotta Warriors

The Terra Cotta Warriors were found in China and were an army that included horses, standing guard over a huge (38 square mile?) tomb. The warriors when exposed to the air immediately had issues with their paint flaking, so the main portion of the tomb has not been opened. Each warrior had amazing details and was unique even to their hair. The museum has exhibits allowing you to try excavating artifacts, reassemble warriors that have fallen to pieces, learn how the paint was made and used to restore the warriors with all the exhibits being hands on.

Captain Kidd Exhibit

Right next to the Terra Cotta Warriors is another archeology exhibit, but this one includes items from under the sea. The exhibit includes a video showing how the ship was found and why it’s thought to be the ship of Captain Kidd as well as Captain Kidd’s history and how his ship ended up sinking where it was found. At the back of the exhibits you can visit the lab and see some of the parts that have flaked off of the remains found. The museum includes a canon taken from the shipwreck that has been soaking to get off the accumulation that has collected under the sea.

Dinosaurs

The dinosaur exhibit is one that would excite any kids! It includes large animatronic dinos for the kids to see what the dinosaurs might have looked like real size. The museum includes a lab to see the fossilized remains of footprints and learn more about what is currently known about the dinosaurs. The dinosaur exhibit is one of our favorites every time.

Beyond Spaceship Earth

Even with our limited time we had to check out beyond spaceship Earth. the exhibit includes an example of the International Space Station. The exhibit showed how the astronauts sleep, exercise, and communicate with home. It was really interesting, but I can’t imagine staying in a small space like that for an extended period of time – and they sleep standing up attached to the walls. Around the corner they have an exhibit for the Titan rocket. If you stay for the show to learn more about the Titan, the seats even vibrate!

Much More!

There was so much more that we didn’t have time for, though we did see some of the blown glass exhibit. The food court does have very limited hours too – we missed the hours, but luckily we were able to get some grapes for our little one (no lunch day). For us there was an hour time change, so we had arrived fairly late and only had two hours. With that we only really saw the three exhibits with plenty more left to see on another visit. The museum includes a transformer in the entryway, a branch of the local library, and a huge dinosaur that has peeled up the roof to look in – so even if you don’t pay to go into the museum exhibits, there is still a few things to keep a child amused. Living only an hour or two away, it’s a museum we get a membership to each year.

They are currently adding a set of sports exhibits onto the outside – opening in March.