At 400,000+ square feet, the Indianapolis Children's Museum is a pretty awesome space. From the new Dino exhibit, complete with life-size T-Rex, some new mummified dinosaur, and planetarium-style ceiling to the new Terracotta warriors that you can take a part and put back together to the carousel, this museum is obviously dripping in money and resources. Oh yes, and there is a branch of the Indianapolis Public Library in it.
A few things of note -
- loved the Playscape which is designed for 0-7 and their families. This area is definitely closest to what we want to do on the second floor. The space was inviting, creative, and had a wide variety of options. This space was about 5,000 square feet and was open-plan with short walls or some kind of interactive to separate space. I particularly liked the baby space that was a cushioned pad surrounded by a little one foot wall that had mirrors and manipulatives on the inside for babies to play with. Parents were in there with their kids playing too. I also liked the music room which was a just a room full of musical instruments, some on tables, some free standing - mostly percussion. I think I know how we can make a PAL dedicated to music after seeing this space. They also had a Lucky Climber (Jason and Angelica can explain) which was about 15 feet high but quite wide. Kids were having a great time crawling and climbing.
- Game Zone - an entire area dedicated to games (board, video, everything). They had tables set up where you could play board games, consoles for video gaming and lots of opportunity to play others. I think we could easily make a PAL dedicated to games.
- Chihuly glass - giant Chihuly glass structure in the center of the museum that was pretty amazing (although it needed a little cleaning). I particularly enjoyed the spinning lounge chairs that moved slowly below a ceiling of Chihuly so you could admire the art.
- public library - not a huge connection to the museum, but they had the ready-to-go bags filled with board books and picture books that I've wanted for years. They use withdrawn books to create bags of books (like our backpacks) but not themed, very popular with storytime moms.
- they have an exhibition of Terracotta warriors coming in May, so they have a small Terracotta Warrior exhibit to promote it. They are rubber Terracotta soldiers that you can take a part and out back together. Since they are life-sized, it really is pretty neat to take them apart and put them back together.
Overall, this place was OK - more of a spectacle than anything, but not really a true hands on children's museum. It was a museum for children with some interactive areas. The real energy in the place was in the interactive spaces for hunger kids. Pictures attached.
Michelle
I thought the one room (maybe 6,000 sq. ft.) that had a water feature, climbing structure, playscape, music and art room, sand box and a Rube Goldberg contraption wall (and a few more things that didn't work as well) was the best part of the entire Indy CM. Did I say it was maybe 6,000 sq. ft? Add a room for birthday parties and we are just about the size as the second floor. Hmm...
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