24 Indianapolis Museums for Kids: Ages, Prices and What’s On (2026)

Kids can touch real dinosaur fossils, climb a four-story treehouse or walk the old cell blocks of a county jail at the 24 Indianapolis-area museums below. Seven are free to enter, the Indiana Access Pass covers qualifying families at nine of them for $5 a person, and holiday programs at the Children’s Museum, the Indiana State Museum, Conner Prairie and the Eiteljorg start in November.

The Children’s Museum, the Indiana State Museum and Conner Prairie each have an in-depth guide of their own, linked from their entries.

• Quick picks by age and budget
• The Children’s Museum, Indiana State Museum and Conner Prairie
• Downtown and White River State Park
• Art, racing, astronomy and history around Indianapolis
• Suburban museums
• Museum day trips from Indianapolis
• Free museum days and ways to save
• Quick guide to all 24 museums

Quick Picks by Age and Budget

Toddlers and Preschoolers

• The Children’s Museum: Babyscape for 2 and under, Playscape for 5 and under (closed through Nov. 6, 2026) and the All Aboard! train gallery for ages 3 to 5.
• Indiana State Museum: Firefly Landing classes for kids 6 and under, starting at 18 months.
• Eiteljorg Museum: a pretend restaurant and a stagecoach in the family center, plus Story and Studio Time for ages 3 to 6.
• Johnson County Museum of History: free, with pioneer dress-up and a life-size Conestoga wagon replica.
• Carmel Clay History Museum: a $1 play area inside a free museum.

Ages 5 to 10

• Conner Prairie: Wellspring’s foam quarry all year, and Prairietown and a four-story treehouse from spring through fall.
• Newfields: Gallery Explorers, select Saturday mornings for ages 5 to 10 and their adults.
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum: a pit stop challenge and driving simulators.
• Indianapolis Firefighters Museum: four vintage fire engines and twin fire poles, free.
• Museum of Miniature Houses: treasure hunts at three levels and a wishing fairy door.
• Sheriff’s Residence and Jail Museum: real cell blocks to walk through in Noblesville, free.

Tweens and Teens

• Indiana War Memorial Museum: a Cobra attack helicopter, the USS Indianapolis gallery and the Monument climb on Fridays.
• Indiana Medical History Museum: an hourlong tour with human skeletons and preserved organs on display.
• Holcomb Observatory: a planetarium film, a live sky talk and telescopes on weekend nights, $5 under 18.
• Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library: the “Tralfamadore” exhibit, for teens reading Slaughterhouse-Five.
• NCAA Hall of Champions: sports and ski simulators and a 1930s-style gym.

Free or Nearly Free

• Indiana State Police Museum: John Dillinger’s death mask and a 1938 police car, free.
• Newfields: Fairbanks Art & Nature Park costs nothing, and First Thursdays are pay what you wish.
• James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home: $2 for ages 7 to 17, free for 6 and under.
• Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust: free engine tours by reservation.
• SullivanMunce Cultural Center: free art and local history in Zionsville.

Rainy Days

• The Children’s Museum: five floors, and the box office sells discounted second-day tickets.
• Indiana State Museum: three floors and IMAX, next door to the Eiteljorg and the NCAA Hall of Champions.
• IMS Museum: a pit stop challenge, driving simulators and the Jeff Gordon exhibit, all indoors.
• Newfields: hands-on Star Studio spaces on every floor, a cafe and a milkshake bar.

The Big Three: Children’s Museum, Indiana State Museum and Conner Prairie

These are the all-day museums, and all three run holiday programs. Our guide to holiday fun in Indianapolis has the lights, Santa visits and shows around town.

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis calls itself the world’s largest children’s museum: 485,000 square feet indoors plus 7.5 acres of outdoor sports fields, open mid-March to early November. Kids touch real fossils and watch scientists prepare dinosaur bones in Dinosphere, board a pretend flight to Peru, walk through a replica of the International Space Station and ride the 1917 carousel, $2 a ride for each child. The museum sets ages by gallery: Babyscape for 2 and under, Playscape for 5 and under (closed for updates through Nov. 6, 2026), All Aboard! for 3 to 5, Take Me There: Peru for 6 to 10 and The Power of Children for 8 and up.

Tiana’s Joyful Celebration, for ages 6 to 10, stays through Jan. 3, 2027. WinterFaire runs Nov. 21, 2026, to Feb. 15, 2027, with WinterSlide in the atrium through Jan. 10, 2027. Barbie You Can Be Anything: The Experience opens Jan. 30, 2027, and Building Black, LEGO sculptures for ages 8 to 12, opens March 20, 2027. The whole museum, garage included, closes Jan. 11 to 15, 2027.

• Address: 3000 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46208
• Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; daily in summer
• Admission: $29-$37 adults, $25-$33 youth by date through Dec. 31, 2026; Indiana residents $3 off; free under 2
• Cheaper days: First Thursday, $6 a person, 4-8 p.m.; free Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2026, with advance tickets
• Parking: free garage with a skywalk

Indiana State Museum

The Indiana State Museum covers Indiana from the Ice Age on, over three floors in White River State Park. Kids walk an ice tunnel, see Fred the Mastodon, build a crinoid in the fossil gallery and touch the frogs in Natural Regions to hear them croak; upstairs in 19th State they split logs, churn butter and pack a Conestoga wagon. A sculpture for each of Indiana’s 92 counties is somewhere on the museum’s campus, and finding them all makes a scavenger hunt. Firefly Landing, the room for kids 6 and under, opens only for registered programs and select events, and the six-story IMAX needs its own ticket ($10 adults and $7 kids 12 and under for documentaries).

Celebration Crossing, included with admission, runs Nov. 27, 2026, to Jan. 3, 2027, and the museum opens daily for it except Christmas Day. Santa arrives by helicopter at 10:30 a.m. on opening day, and the Snowfall Express rolls through an indoor snowy forest.

• Address: 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204
• Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Admission: $23 adults, $21 seniors 60 and older, $17 ages 3-17, free under 3; $1 less online
• Free days: Jan. 18, Feb. 15 and June 19, 2027
• Parking: $4 in the attached garage with a validated museum ticket

Conner Prairie

Conner Prairie is a 1,046-acre living history museum in Fishers with an indoor half open all year and an outdoor half open from spring through fall. In the Museum Experience Center, kids climb into a sycamore tree and jump into a foam quarry in Wellspring and build inventions in Spark!Lab, developed by the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center. Outside, they do chores and play 1830s games in Prairietown, climb the four-story Treetop Outpost, meet heritage-breed farm animals and splash at River Crossing in summer. The tethered balloon rises up to 370 feet, $19 for ages 13 and older and $11 for ages 2 to 12 on top of admission. One of our writers, a longtime Conner Prairie regular, saves the balloon for last to keep kids moving through the day.

Conner Prairie posts ages for its programs, not its attractions: Read, Rock & Roll for ages 0 to 6, Playtime on the Prairie for 0 to 5 and Adventure Camp for 5 to 13, May 24 to July 30, 2027. A Merry Prairie Holiday opens the grounds on 17 evenings, Nov. 27 to Dec. 28, 2026, for $26 or $10 with an Access Pass. The trails are closed until further notice after flooding in August 2026.

• Address: 13400 Allisonville Road, Fishers, IN 46038
• Hours: Nov. 3-Dec. 28, 2026, Museum Experience Center only, Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Admission (spring through fall): $26 adults 13 and older, $24 seniors 65 and older, $20 youth, free under 2
• Museums on Us: free for Bank of America cardholders the first full weekend of each month
• Parking: free

Downtown and White River State Park

The Indiana State Museum, the Eiteljorg and the NCAA Hall of Champions stand side by side on West Washington Street in White River State Park, with the Indiana History Center a few blocks north on the canal. Pairing a museum with lunch or a park? Our guide to things to do in downtown Indianapolis with kids covers the rest of the neighborhood.

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art

The Eiteljorg holds Native American and Western art, and its canal-level family education center was designed with the youngest visitors in mind. Kids play restaurant at Wisdom’s Café, explore a ranch barn, look up at the Haida Wasgo totem pole and work the wagon-wheel activity at a stagecoach, with an art studio and a quiet room nearby. Story and Studio Time, for ages 3 to 6 with a caregiver, meets monthly and is free with admission: Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 10 a.m., then Dec. 8, 2026, and Jan. 12, 2027.

Jingle Rails: The Great Western Adventure, included with admission, runs Nov. 21, 2026, to Jan. 18, 2027, with eight G-scale trains on about 1,200 feet of track through more than 30 scenes, the Speedway and Old Faithful among them. The exhibit stays open until 7 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday in December, and a sensory-friendly day is Sunday, Dec. 6, 2026, 10 a.m. to noon. The Indian Market and Festival is June 26 and 27, 2027.

• Address: 500 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204
• Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.
• Admission: $20 adults, $16 seniors, $12 ages 5-17, free 4 and under; Access Pass $5
• Parking: free for museum visitors in the White River State Park garage off Washington Street

Indiana History Center

The Indiana Historical Society’s Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center is on the Central Canal. For kids, the exhibit with the most to do is The Electric Railway: Indiana’s Interurbans, through Jan. 23, 2027: a room dressed as an early 1900s interurban station with hands-on discovery, and a re-created car where visitors “ride” through a video presentation. It suits train fans 5 and up, though the Society posts no age guidance.

Festival of Trees has more than 75 decorated trees and cookie decorating from Nov. 13, 2026, to Jan. 2, 2027. The History Center opens Sundays, noon to 5 p.m., during the festival and stays until 8 p.m. for Twilight Nights on Dec. 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17 and 22, 2026. Festival tickets are $20 adults, $19 seniors, $5 ages 5 to 17 and free under 5.

• Address: 450 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis, IN 46202
• Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Admission: $15 adults, $14 seniors 60 and older, $5 ages 5-17, free under 5; $2 off adult and senior tickets online
• Discounts: Access Pass $5; active, retired and veteran military and their party free
• Parking: free with admission in the New York Street lot; validate at the Welcome desk

NCAA Hall of Champions

Two floors at the NCAA Hall of Champions cover all 24 college sports, and the second floor is where kids get moving, with sports simulators, a ski simulator, trivia and a 1930s-style gym for basketball. The simulators and trivia suit school-age kids, and the museum suggests about 90 minutes. Visitors under 18 need an adult, the building is cashless and outside food isn’t allowed. Admission is free on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day and Juneteenth.

• Address: 700 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204
• Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.
• Admission: $10 adults 18-59, $7.50 seniors, $5 ages 6-17, free 5 and under; Access Pass $5
• Parking: $5 with validation in the White River State Park garage, 650 W. Washington St.

Indiana War Memorial Museum and Soldiers and Sailors Monument

The Indiana War Memorial Museum has an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter, the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) Gallery, military firearms and uniforms and the 110-foot Shrine Room, and its subject suits school-age kids more than preschoolers. The ticket also covers the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Monument Circle that day. Its observation level opens Fridays and is reached by 330 steps or by an elevator and then 49 steps; strollers stay below, anyone under 18 goes up with someone over 18 and the stairs close above 90 degrees outside or 85 inside. One of our writers climbed the stairs with her daughter, who was worn out before halfway, and recommends the elevator for smaller kids.

• Address: 55 E. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46204; the monument is on Monument Circle
• Hours: museum Wednesday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; monument Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Admission: $10 adults 19-59, $5 seniors 60 and older, $5 ages 5-18, free under 5; military and veterans free
• Parking: meters on all four sides of the museum, plus nearby garages

Indianapolis Firefighters Museum

The Indianapolis Firefighters Museum is in historic Fire Station No. 2 on Mass Ave, with four old engines: a 1921 Stutz ladder truck, a 1919 Stutz pumper, a 1941 pumper built in the fire department’s own shop and a 1949 International Harvester pumper. The station also has twin fire poles and a restored bell tower, and the Fallen Firefighters Memorial Plaza is out front. Our writer’s stop took about 30 minutes, which suits fire-truck fans from preschool up.

• Address: 748 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46204
• Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., April-October
• Admission: free; donations appreciated

Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library

The Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library posts no child price or age guidance, its programs lean to lectures and Banned Books Week, and it has a bar, so it is a teen stop. A high schooler reading Slaughterhouse-Five can walk through the “Tralfamadore” exhibit, built with Purdue EPICS students and on view from Nov. 11, 2026. Guided tours cost $5 more (daily at noon, 1 p.m. on Sunday), and admission is free on the first Monday of each month.

• Address: 543 Indiana Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46202; free lot
• Hours: Monday and Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.
• Admission: $12 adults; $10 seniors, educators and military; $8 students

James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home

The Hoosier poet’s 1872 Victorian Italianate house in Lockerbie Square is seen by guided tour, every tour needs a reservation, and it suits a kid who can follow a guide. The Victorian Holiday Open House, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2026, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is free, with walk-through tours, holiday photos and carols on a 1908 Apollo player piano. The house closes from Dec. 24 through the first week of January.

• Address: 528 Lockerbie St., Indianapolis, IN 46202
• Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., by reservation
• Admission: $12 adults, $2 ages 7-17, free 6 and under
• Parking: gravel lot west of the house and on Lockerbie Street

Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site

The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, the 23rd president’s home in the Old Northside, is seen by guided tour, with walk-ins taken as space allows. Family events include LIVE! Family Christmas, a holiday tour of the home set in 1888, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2026, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; the free LIVE! Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and the free Presidential Egg Roll each spring. A Dickens Christmas runs Dec. 11 to 13, 2026. The site closes Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Dec. 31, 2026, to Jan. 17, 2027, for its annual restoration.

• Address: 1230 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis, IN 46202
• Tours: Monday-Thursday at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.; hourly Friday (10 a.m.-2 p.m.), Saturday (10 a.m.-3 p.m.) and Sunday (noon-3 p.m.)
• Admission: $16 adults, $15 veterans and seniors, $11 ages 5-17, free 4 and under
• Parking: free on Delaware Street or in the small lot off 13th Street

Art, Racing, Astronomy and History Around Indianapolis

Hook’s Historic Drug Store Museum, with its soda fountain at the State Fairgrounds, has no entry here because it opens only 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day of the Indiana State Fair and for special openings announced on its social media and mailing list.

Newfields

Newfields is a 152-acre campus with the Indianapolis Museum of Art, a 52-acre garden, the historic Lilly House and the free 100-acre Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. In the museum, Star Studio puts hands-on activity spaces on every floor, so kids can stay busy without touching artwork, and Rebecca Louise Law’s Efflorescence hangs about 37,000 dried flowers overhead in the entrance pavilion. Fairbanks Park, with a 35-acre lake and what Newfields calls the city’s largest native pollinator meadow, is open dawn to dusk daily.

Wee Wonders, for ages 3 to 5 and a caregiver, meets on select Friday mornings (Nov. 13 and Dec. 11, 2026) for $18 with general admission included, or $5 with an Access Pass. Gallery Explorers, for ages 5 to 10 with one adult included, is $20 on Saturday mornings Nov. 21 and Dec. 19, 2026, and Jan. 16 and Feb. 20, 2027. Winterlights lights the grounds Nov. 20, 2026, to Jan. 3, 2027, with adult tickets from $25 and kids 5 and under free.

• Address: 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, IN 46208
• Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; also open Mondays Nov. 23, Dec. 21 and Dec. 28, 2026
• Admission: $23 adults, $20 seniors 65 and older, $15 ages 6-17, free 5 and under; Access Pass $5
• First Thursdays: pay what you wish, including $0, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (Nov. 5 and Dec. 3, 2026)
• Parking: typically free in the main lot and underground garage

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum

The IMS Museum sits inside the 2.5-mile oval. In the Qualifying Zone, kids try a pit stop challenge, a strategy challenge and driving simulators, including one that’s wheelchair accessible, and the youngest get a soft play area. The Starting Line Experience pairs a 7-minute video on an 80-by-20-foot LED screen with the show cars starting up, and the Jeff Gordon exhibit (13 cars, 70-plus helmets) is open until February 2027. Track tours need museum admission; Kiss the Bricks, a 30-minute bus lap with a stop at the Yard of Bricks, adds $15 for adults and $10 for ages 6 to 16 on select dates when weather and track activity allow.

The museum says the Qualifying Zone suits all ages, from the soft play area to a dissected Indy car. The museum is cashless and bans backpacks and coolers. It has a Wellness Room for nursing and sensory breaks and closes Thanksgiving and Christmas.

• Address: 4750 W. 16th St., Speedway, IN 46222; enter at Gate 2
• Hours: daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. from Nov. 2, 2026-Feb. 28, 2027
• Admission: $25 adults, $23 seniors 55 and older, $18 military, $18 ages 6-16, free under 5; Access Pass $5 in person
• Museums on Us: free for Bank of America cardholders the first full weekend of each month
• Parking: free except during races and private events

Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium

Butler University’s Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium runs public shows on weekend nights: a planetarium film (currently Mars: The Ultimate Voyage), a live sky talk, then telescope viewing if the weather allows. The big Holcomb telescope is under repair, so viewing is through Celestron telescopes and a Seestar S50. On our visit, the presenter started with the myth behind a constellation, which hooked our reviewer’s kids, though clouds ruled out the telescope; the dome is open to the sky, so dress warm. A show at Clowes Hall made parking hectic that night. The 7:30 p.m. start and 66 steps up to the telescope, with no elevator, point to school-age kids and older.

• Address: 4600 Sunset Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46208, at the north end of campus
• Shows: weekend nights; doors 7 p.m., shows at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.
• Admission: $8 adults, $5 under 18, free with a Butler ID; telescope viewing free
• Parking: campus garage for a fee; $15 during Butler games and Clowes or Schrott shows

Indiana Medical History Museum

The Indiana Medical History Museum says its one-hour guided tour may be unsuitable for young children because of its length, its subject and its hands-off rules, and human skeletons and preserved organs are on display. For a teen curious about medicine, that’s the draw. Tours run on the hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. by appointment, with eight people at most, in a two-floor building with no elevator and no strollers allowed. GPS may send you to the old Vermont Street entrance, which is closed; come in from Warman or Tibbs Avenue on Kirkbride Way.

• Address: 3270 Kirkbride Way, Indianapolis
• Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; tours by appointment
• Admission: $10 adults, $9 seniors 65 and older, $7 college and trade students, $5 under 18

Indiana State Police Museum

The Indiana State Police Museum on the east side is a short, free stop with John Dillinger’s death mask, a 1938 Chevrolet police car and uniforms from the department’s history. It opens only three weekdays, so it fits a school break better than a weekend.

• Address: 8660 E. 21st St., Indianapolis, IN 46219
• Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Admission: free; donations appreciated

Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, Allison Branch

About 25 Allison engines fill the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust’s Allison Branch annex. Tours are free, by reservation only, on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with Thursdays preferred, and run 60 to 90 minutes. It’s a pick for older kids into aviation or engineering.

• Address: 1911 Executive Drive, Suite A, Indianapolis, IN 46241
• Tours: weekdays by reservation; call 463-202-2602
• Admission: free

Suburban Museums: Carmel, Noblesville, Zionsville, Greenfield, Franklin and Danville

Conner Prairie in Fishers is with the big three above. Three of the seven museums here are free, and the Carmel Clay History Museum charges only for its play area. Each town also has a guide of ours: things to do with kids in Carmel, Noblesville, Zionsville and Greenfield.

Carmel Clay History Museum

The Carmel Clay History Museum is on the Monon Greenway a block south of Main Street, and the museum and its exhibits are free through 2026. For young kids, the draw is the children’s play area, $1 a child for ages 1 and up, with an adult along. On our visit, the third-floor play area had play houses, toys, games and dress-up clothes. The historical society also keeps up the 1883 Monon Depot and books 45-minute Old Town walking tours for families for a small fee.

• Address: 211 1st St. SW, Carmel, IN 46032
• Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.
• Admission: free through 2026; children’s play area $1 per child
• Parking: street parking, or the garage at First Street SW and Third Avenue SW

Museum of Miniature Houses and Other Collections

Thousands of tiny rooms, houses and pieces fill seven exhibit rooms at the Museum of Miniature Houses in Carmel, and by the museum’s count, kids are about a quarter of its visitors. They follow treasure hunts written at three levels, make a wish at a fairy door, arrange furniture at a station in the Inspiration Room and use magnifying glasses and step stools in every room. Our reviewer found the dollhouse on the floor a good outlet for little ones who got antsy around the glass. Out of Many: America 250 runs through June 2, 2027. It’s best for kids old enough to look closely without touching, and kids under 15 need an adult.

• Address: 111 E. Main St., Carmel, IN 46032
• Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, 1-4 p.m.
• Admission: $10 general, $8 seniors 65 and older and military, $5 ages 3-9; Access Pass $5
• Parking: free lot behind the building off First Avenue SE, at the ramp entrance

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Residence and Jail Museum

In Noblesville, the Hamilton County Historical Society runs the former county jail, in use from 1876 to 1977, and the sheriff’s family home as the Sheriff’s Residence and Jail Museum. Kids walk the men’s cell blocks and the Victorian women’s cells, see the visitation window and how the locks worked, then go through the family’s parlor and kitchen. The society says the cells are appropriate for children and that graphic graffiti in the juvenile block is covered. Our reviewer’s kids liked posing behind the bars with a parent but kept clear of the cells on their own, and the visit took about 45 minutes. Only the first floor is stroller accessible.

• Address: 810 Conner St., Noblesville, IN 46060
• Hours: Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; groups on other days by arrangement
• Admission: free; donations welcome
• Parking: free around the courthouse square, or 4 hours free in the Levinson garage a block south

SullivanMunce Cultural Center

SullivanMunce Cultural Center puts Zionsville’s art center, the P.H. Sullivan history museum and a genealogy library under one roof, and admission is free. For kids it’s a short browse; the bigger draw is art classes and summer day camps. The Teeny Tiny Art Market runs Nov. 20 to Dec. 19, 2026.

• Address: 225 W. Hawthorne St., Zionsville, IN 46077
• Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Admission: free

James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home and Museum

Greenfield Parks and Recreation runs the poet’s boyhood home for the city, with hostess-led tours of family life in the 1850s and ’60s. It opens from mid-March through October and closes for the winter. Students 6 to 17 pay $2, and groups of 10 or more RSVP a week ahead. Riley’s later house in Lockerbie Square is in the downtown section.

• Address: 250 W. Main St., Greenfield, IN 46140
• Hours (mid-March through October): Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; last tour at 3 p.m.
• Admission: $7 adults, $5.50 seniors and military, $2 ages 6-17, free 5 and under

Johnson County Museum of History

The Johnson County Museum of History, a block north of the courthouse in downtown Franklin, is free, and a handprint symbol marks the exhibits kids are invited to touch. They try on pioneer and Victorian clothes, imagine a trip west in a life-size Conestoga wagon replica, do a scavenger hunt and play with toys and games from years gone by. Galleries run from Paleozoic fossils to Camp Atterbury and the 1950s, and an 1830s log cabin sits in the parking lot. The dress-up and the wagon suit preschoolers through about age 10.

Photos with Santa are Saturday, Dec. 5 (1:30 to 4:30 p.m.), and Saturday, Dec. 12, 2026 (noon to 3 p.m.), and the Holiday Open House with a Matinee Musicale concert is Saturday, Dec. 19, 2026, 1 to 3 p.m. The Artisan Market is Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026.

• Address: 135 N. Main St., Franklin, IN 46131
• Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Admission: free

Hendricks County Historical Museum

Danville’s Hendricks County Historical Museum is the old sheriff’s residence with the jail in the basement, and visitors can step into the cells to read the graffiti on the walls. The Children’s Room holds early toys, trains, dolls, a school desk, puzzles and a large dollhouse. The museum doesn’t post an admission price online, and groups of 5 to 30 can request a private docent tour.

• Address: 170 S. Washington St., Danville, IN 46122
• Hours: Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., March-December

Worth the Drive: Museum Day Trips From Indianapolis

Each of these is an hour or two each way, so plan a full day. Drive times are approximate, from downtown Indianapolis. Our list of Indiana day trips for fall break covers more of the state.

WonderLab Museum of Science, Health & Technology, Bloomington (about 1 hour). Kids play the Big Piano, launch creations up a wind tunnel in HoverCrafts and work the water and sand tables, and Science Sprouts Place is for babies to age 3. Admission is $14.50 for ages 1 and up, $5 with an Access Pass and $10 on second-Sunday Super Sundays, and the museum suggests two hours.

kidscommons, Columbus (about 45 minutes to an hour). Its ExploraHouse holds what the museum calls a world-famous giant toilet. Elsewhere, kids stand inside a giant bubble in Bubble-ology, and camp kidscommons, an outdoors-themed exhibit, has treetops to search and tunnels to crawl through. Visits are timed sessions Tuesday through Sunday, with advance tickets strongly recommended. Admission is $9 for ages 2 and up, free under 18 months and $3 for up to four people with a SNAP EBT card.

Terre Haute Children’s Museum (about 1 hour 15 minutes). A ropes course climbs to 12 and 22 feet with a zip line for a $7 add-on (42 inches tall with an adult, 48 inches alone), and the two-story Tree House with a twisty slide is for ages 5 and up. Admission is $9 for ages 2 and up, free under 2 and $5 with an Access Pass.

Science Central, Fort Wayne (about 2 hours). More than 200 permanent exhibits share the building with a planetarium and Kids Central, an area for ages 0 to 7. It is open Wednesday through Sunday during the school year, and tickets for ages 3 and up are $15 at the door or $14 online. ASTC members get in free, and STEAMsgiving brings model railroads Nov. 27 to 29, 2026.

Grissom Air Museum, Peru (about 1.5 hours). Kids try out a Huey helicopter and an F-4 Phantom in the Heritage Building, then walk an outdoor air park of more than 25 aircraft. Admission is $10, $8 for kids 6 to 11 and free for 5 and under; the museum is open Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in November and December and closes from January to the second week of March.

Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, New Castle (about 50 minutes to an hour). Admission is free. Kids attempt the game-winning shot, try to block Oscar Robertson or Stephanie White and record their own call of a last-second buzzer beater. It’s open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Muncie Children’s Museum (about 1 hour 10 minutes). It aims at kids up to 8, with a Tot Spot, a water table with a tornado simulator, a model railroad and a real tractor. Admission is $8 a person for ages 1 and up, or $1 each, $5 a family at most, for families on SNAP, WIC or Medicaid.

National Model Aviation Museum, Muncie (about 1 hour 10 minutes). It’s closed for the winter except for special events. In season, admission is $8 for adults, $4 for ages 7 to 17 and free for 6 and under, and visitors can drive the 1,100-acre flying site to watch most events for free.

Fiberglass Freaks’ Batman Museum, Logansport (about 90 minutes). The Batman Museum has a Batcave with Mark Racop’s first Batmobile, a Wayne Manor study replica and a Rogue’s Gallery. Tickets are $15.99 for adults and $8.99 for children, and it’s open Tuesday through Saturday afternoons, closing for January.

Related Article: 6 Museum + Zoo Day Trips from Indianapolis

Free Museum Days and Ways to Save

The Indiana Access Pass lets families in SNAP, TANF, WIC, Hoosier Healthwise and other qualifying state programs, or with an Indiana foster care license, pay $5 a person per visit, for up to two adults and the dependent kids under 21 in the household. Applying is free. Around Indianapolis it works at the Children’s Museum, Conner Prairie, the Eiteljorg, the Indiana History Center, the Indiana State Museum, the IMS Museum, the NCAA Hall of Champions, Newfields and the Museum of Miniature Houses, plus WonderLab and the Terre Haute Children’s Museum on day trips. The State Museum and the IMS Museum sell Access Pass tickets in person only.

First Thursdays are the monthly deal at two museums: $6 a person from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Children’s Museum, and pay what you wish, including $0, at Newfields. The next are Nov. 5 and Dec. 3, 2026.

Bank of America’s Museums on Us gives each cardholder one free general admission on the first full weekend of every month at Newfields, Conner Prairie and the IMS Museum, next on the weekends of Nov. 7 and Dec. 5, 2026. Bring the card and a photo ID; special exhibitions aren’t included.

Admission is free every day at the Indianapolis Firefighters Museum, the Indiana State Police Museum, the Hamilton County jail museum, SullivanMunce, the Johnson County Museum of History, the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust and Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, and the Carmel Clay History Museum is free through 2026, with a charge only for its play area. Other free days land mostly on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day and Juneteenth. Our list of free museum days in Indianapolis keeps every museum’s dates in one calendar and adds the 2027 days as each museum posts them.

Service members get in free at Conner Prairie (active, retired and veteran, with half price for spouses and kids), the Indiana History Center (with their party), the Indiana State Museum (active and veteran) and the Indiana War Memorial Museum, and Newfields is free year-round for active duty and their immediate families. Veterans Day week adds the Children’s Museum’s Veterans Appreciation Day on Saturday, Nov. 7, the State Museum’s Heroes from the Heartland on Sunday, Nov. 8, and free Newfields admission for veterans and active duty on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026.

Several suburban libraries lend free museum passes. Carmel Clay Public Library has passes for the Eiteljorg, the Indiana Historical Society, the Indiana State Museum and the Vonnegut museum. Hussey-Mayfield in Zionsville adds Conner Prairie, the Harrison site and the IMS Museum, and Johnson County Public Library adds Conner Prairie and the Indiana Medical History Museum. The Danville, Plainfield and Mooresville libraries lend State Museum, Eiteljorg and Historical Society passes. None of the libraries we checked has a Children’s Museum pass.

Reciprocal memberships do less close to home. An Indiana State Museum family membership includes the ASTC Travel Passport, but ASTC excludes science centers within 90 miles, in a straight line, of your home or your member museum. For Indianapolis-area members, that rules out WonderLab, Terre Haute and the Muncie Children’s Museum. Science Central in Fort Wayne, about 105 miles away, lets ASTC members in free, and the Children’s Museum isn’t a participant.

Quick Guide: Indianapolis Museums 2026

All 24 museums in one table. The last column is adult admission, then the child price; each name jumps to its entry.

Our list of the best things to do in Indianapolis with kids covers the parks, playgrounds and other family outings in the rest of the city.