There’s nothing wrong with a little screen time, but children also need to see, touch, hear and experience the real thing. That’s when curiosity and imagination take over. At The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, your family can come face-to-face with real fossils, meet real experts, discover real stories and so much more.
Explore Real Artifacts and Objects
When you step into the Dinosphere® exhibit, you enter a world full of real fossils, several of which were discovered, dug up and prepared by the museum’s own paleontologists. You can even touch a real dinosaur fossil in the working prep labs.
But the real objects and artifacts don’t stop in Dinosphere. With pop culture items, hidden treasures, geological samples, a control panel that helped send astronauts to the moon, and everything in between, The Children’s Museum has a vast collection of more than 130,000 items. Real objects lurk around every corner of the museum, sparking curiosity and inspiring imaginations every day.
Meet Real Experts
Every year, the museum invites exceptional artists with Indiana ties to publicly present and teach their work. These Visiting Artists regularly host hands-on workshops where you can meet, learn from and be inspired by real artists.
The museum also hosts the Eli Lilly and Company Visiting Scientist every year, showcasing successful women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as positive role models. You can talk to, explore with and learn from real scientists who are conducting real work in the world of science.
The museum’s staff of paleontologists is also busy cleaning, preparing and studying the fossils they discovered in Wyoming, and you can talk to them about what they’re working on. They love answering questions and sharing their dino discoveries with you.
Encounter Real Stories
The museum is bursting at the seams with real stories about real people. Learn about the real families featured in Take Me There®: Peru, discover the powerful stories of Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, Ryan White and Malala Yousafzai, and explore ancient stories in National Geographic Treasures of the Earth. These stories can challenge, inspire and encourage your child to explore the world around them and help to make it a better place.
Conduct Real Experiments
The STEMLab offers regular guided exploration of many topics, including astronomy, biology, physics and chemistry. The museum’s Discovery Lab, created for children ages 5 and younger, also gives your young child an opportunity to explore rocks, plants, fossils and other items from the natural world while using tools designed just for them.
Experience Live Theater
Watch real actors bring stories to life onstage in Lilly Theater. Upcoming shows include The Princess Adventure (winter 2026), Chasing the Sky, based on the book The Journey of the Noble Gnarble (spring 2027), and How I Became a Pirate (winter 2027).
Giving the Gift of Real Experiences
You can’t wrap a dinosaur fossil, a conversation with an artist or the thrill of experiencing a live show. But you can give the gift of a museum membership and provide a full year of real adventures, real encounters and real discoveries to share.
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