I cannot stress enough that if you have your family within day trip distance of Indianapolis, the Children's Museum is a must see! Even if you are not, it is worth the trip. We were able to get a special rate from a local hotel, and for $149 we got a night at the hotel, and 4 tickets to both the Children's Museum and Indianapolis Zoo. Normal admission is $12 for adults and $7 for ages 2-17. They offer free admission on MLK Day, President's Day, Day of the Child (April 30) and on Christmas Eve, as well as 4-8 PM the first Thursday of the month.

The museum consists of five floors of fun for kids of all ages. If you are there when it opens, they do a small introductory program that goes over all the museum's features and exhibits that we found very helpful. We began at the top, as I always prefer to start as far away from the entrance as possible and work my way back to it. Honestly, we could have spent the entire day in the science area on the top floor. My 6-year old tried out the rock climbing program that they offer. There were large exhibits about construction and how levers and pulleys apply to it, which both of my sons were glued to.

My 6 year old was also enthralled with the Dinosphere, a huge and detailed dinosaur exhibit on the ground floor. When my 3-year old got fidgety with this, I took him to the "Playscape" area that they have for younger kids on the 4th floor. This section had many interesting activities for little ones, including various large blocks that you wouldn't have room for at home, a water area and sand table, and a huge "pretend" area with puppets and props to make believe with.

We found the "Sesame Street" and "Bob the Builder" travelling exhibits to be disappointing, primarily because we looked forward to them the most. They had very limited "hands-on" activities, which surprised us. I enjoyed the Sesame Street memorabilia, having grown up on it, but the kids weren't much into it. We also thought the Planetarium show we attended could have been a little longer and more detailed, and could have had a better sound system as the presenter was difficult to hear.

We spent the entire day there, 10 AM to 5 PM, totally forgot about lunch, and honestly thought we could have spent a couple more hours. It is easy to access, in a nice neighborhood, and parking is free. Do not miss this excellent, reasonably priced attraction!

My daughter travels with me when I have conferences so she has seen Disney, Sea World, etc. This was way better than any of those in her opinion and mine. For 19 dollars (one adult, one child), we spent from 11 am-8 pm (we lucked out and showed up on the one day a month when they are open until 8pm) and never did she tire. For the admission price we got free tickets to see a play, planetarium show and a film on Chihuly (who did the amazing glass now on display) in addition to all the exhibits. There was no waiting in line (even on a very busy summer day) and to see kids who were total strangers cooperatively playing at construction or in the little houses (my daughter literally spent nearly an hour serving up ice cream at the ice cream shoppe) was truly amazing. Loved that the cafeteria had healthful options right up in front (my daughter never even noticed the burger king in the back). I contrast this experience with the zoo where I had to pay more for admission, more for standard fast food fare, etc. I would think the only problem with this place would be if you had a limited amount of time, it would be nearly impossible to drag your kid out (by the way, the dinosaur parade out of the museum at the end of the day is brilliant), LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

I have heard about this fabulous children's musuem for years. We finally decided to take a long weekend and check it out. What an amazing place. There are 5 levels of fun. Our kids are 6 and 10 and had a great time. There is so much that you need more than 1 day. There are also visiting exhibits like Bob the Builder and Sesame Street. The new dinosaur area is a whole museum in and of itself!

Parking is free. You can bring food into the lunch room area or eat at the cafeteria which has sandwiches/pizza and a Burger King. The location was easy to find and is about 4 miles from downtown.

Some highlights - a rock wall, planetarium, Dinosphere, mummy, Carousel, theatre and steam engine. Many of the daily activities require you to obtain free tickets (rock wall, planetarium and theatre shows). Other activities only take place on two or three days a week. There is also a play area just for preschoolers/babies.

Every exhibit has related books and computer stations and coloring stations attached to it. If your child is into dinosaurs be sure to spend time at the dinosaur art gallery on level 2. They can create their own masterpieces. You could spend a day just playing the computer games affiliated with each exhibit.

We loved it! I've lived only 2.5 hours from Indy and never knew it was here. We bought a family pass and plan to return several times this year. I've never been anywhere like it. It was like an indoor amusement park with tons of activities and games. Great learning experiences. My daughter is six, but they have something for every age even the adults in my group loved it! One bit of advice, go to the basement floor first and get complimentary tickets to the theater and planetarium, because certain show times fill up fast.