Dinos ‘Invade’ World’s Largest Children’s Museum

Children’s museums are magical places where imagination and education go hand in hand, but it is difficult to find one that surpasses The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Founded in 1925, the museum has moved location and expanded several times since. Nearly 500,000 square feet in size, the current museum is also home to an additional 7.5-acre health and fitness experience called Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience and is home to more than 130,000 artifacts. Sculptor Brian Cooley created the three life-size Alamosaurs sculpture dinosaurs bursting out of the building, while Staab Studio constructed the two life-sized Brachiosaur sculptures peeking into it.

*Run, drive, jump, putt, and play while learning how to stay happy, healthy, and safe with a mix of outdoor and indoor exhibits in Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience.

*In the National Art Museum of Sport, celebrate sports through art with select pieces from a collection of nearly 1,000 works highlighting iconic moments and art created by the athletes themselves.

*Explore one of the largest collections of adult and juvenile dinosaur fossils, discover modern Chinese life in Take Me There: China.

*Examine the lives of three 20th-century children (Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, Ryan White) who changed the world in The Power Of Children.

*Visit a gallery that pays tribute to the men and women who helped make space exploration possible in Beyond Spaceship Earth. It includes a recreation of portions of the inside of the International Space Station (ISS); a one-of-a-kind, immersive space object experience called the Schaefer Planetarium & Space Object Theater; and an Astronaut Wall of Fame, which highlights astronauts with ties to Indiana.

*Visit with real archaeologists in National Geographic Treasures of the Earth, which examines treasures uncovered from various parts of the world including a real shipwreck in the Caribbean.

*Photo opportunities include the 16-foot-tall movie prop Bumblebee, from the first Transformers movie, North America’s largest water clock, and a historic working carousel.

Photos courtesy TravMedia