Indianapolis with Kids

Indianapolis with kids is a BLAST. This is a city that honestly was never on my list of places I hoped to travel to before having children. But now that I have little kids in tow? Indianapolis is absolutely one of my favorite places to take them. Read on for the absolute best places to visit in Indianapolis with kids- especially if you’re looking for places full of hands-on learning and family fun.

Indianapolis Children’s Museum

You HAVE to go here. Just trust me. This is seriously one of the coolest places I’ve ever taken my kids to- ANYWHERE. It’s the largest children’s museum in the world and its exhibits are SO UNIQUE.

And it might just honestly be the only children’s museum that we’ve been to where we had just as much fun as the kids. It’s incredible.

In fact, we love this museum so much that it had to be its own post here.

But if you’re just wanting the highlights: make sure you see the Take Me There exhibit, the Treasures of the Earth, and the Riley Sports Experience. These are exhibits unlike anything I’ve ever seen before in a kid’s museum and they are absolute MUSTS. (And be sure to check out my post if you want more detail!)

And if you’re looking to just try out the museum in a shorter time frame and don’t want to pay full price admission, check out their First Thursday deal. On the first Thursday of every month the museum stays open late and from 4-8PM you can enter for a discounted price.

Indianapolis Zoo

For me to visit a zoo while traveling to a different city, that zoo has to be AWESOME. It has to be different enough from our home zoo for me to justify spending money on admission tickets. The Indianapolis Zoo meets that criterion.

Upon entry, you’ll walk through a botanical garden section. It’s beautiful and calming, but there’s better things ahead. If you’re short on time- keep going.

Ocean Animals

The first animal exhibit is oceans. There’s a small aquarium inside where you can feed stingrays and see different kinds of fish.

Next to the aquarium are the seals and sea lions. The exhibit is set up to where you can view them from multiple different angles as they splash around. And if you’re lucky, you might even see several sunbathing on top of the rocks- making it almost feel like you’re on a southern California beach.

Just past the seals and sea lions is the walrus exhibit. Now- there’s no reason for me to know this other than the fact that I have over planned for every single hypothetical family vacation for us, but there’s not many zoos where you can see walruses. They’re incredibly difficult to be able to provide a healthy environment for. If they are doing the walrus chats while you are visiting, DEFINITELY stop and watch. You can see the walruses be fed, swim, and get their daily health check up. And I knew walruses were big, but I was still blown away at how big they actually are in person. This was an incredibly unique zoo experience.

As you get towards the back of the zoo there is a dolphin exhibit where you can see a dolphin show (included in admission!) These do get crowded, so make sure you arrive in time to get a seat.

Chimps and Orangutans

Next up you’ll start to see parts of the chimpanzee exhibits. The International Chimpanzee Complex is world class. Several buildings are connected by a system of enclosed walkways that pass over the zoo sidewalks that chimps can travel through. It’s so neat to be walking through the zoo and see a chimp hanging out above you.

Inside the different buildings you can see observe the chimps from behind glass walls. The viewing areas are large enough to park stroller wagons and there’s several benches if you really want to stay awhile.

And while we came for the walruses, we stayed for the chimps. We spent so much time here just observing them. Each chimp had their own personality and you could really tell. Some were playful and were interacting with a group of boys. One was carrying a blanket and would make nests. And our favorite was right up against the window observing everyone that came in and would interact with the children.

The employee was so insightful and could tell us all about the different chimps that we were having the privilege of observing.

After leaving the chimps, head onto the orangutans which also has an incredible viewing system set up. From up high, we watched a family of orangutans play and interact with one another.

Watching one orangutan mother repeatedly pull her baby off of a net rope after her baby would climb too high particularly was fascinating as that’s also what I have to do with my second child pretty much everyday. (Why are second children always the climbers??)

African Animals

And in the very back of the zoo is the Africa section with quite possibly the best elephant and rhinoceros exhibits I’ve seen at a zoo so far. The elephants have water features to play in and the enclosure area is expansive. The rhinoceroses also have different landscape features to run around. We were lucky enough to be there on a day that it rained. We sheltered under the gazebo that is slightly raised over the rhinoceros exhibit and watched the baby rhinoceros play in the mud.

Tips and Tricks

I’ll be honest, I love taking my children to zoos and I love the work that zoos do to help with conservation, but sometimes a zoo can still really bum me out. However, at no point at the Indianapolis Zoo did I get bummed out and that’s a pretty high standard for a zoo to reach with me.

So because of that, this is a zoo that is well worth an entire day to fully take in. Our first trip to Indianapolis we did spend most of the day here and my daughters were immediately asking to go back.

If you have littles, bring a stroller wagon. This zoo is BIG.

If you’re short on time- make sure you at least see the chimps. That’s a can’t miss.

It is a little pricy (and unfortunately, we didn’t get a reciprocal zoo discount with our membership card to our home zoo), but it was well worth it. To keep costs lower, pack a picnic lunch. (We even went back to our car for our lunch- re-entry is easy and the parking lot is very easy to access.)

If you’re on the fence about visiting the Indianapolis Zoo, just go for it. It’s worth it.

White River State Park

Within walking distance from the Indianapolis Zoo is the White River State Park. As an urban park, this was a pretty unique experience for my kids. With paths along the river, green spaces, and art installations, it’s a cool place to explore and even have a picnic in.

Plus- you’re right next to the NCAA Hall of Champions, the Eiteljorg Museum, and the Indiana State Museum. It’s worth checking out and letting the kids burn off some energy.

Indiana State History Museum

Since this was so close to the zoo (and included on our CityPass), we took our kids to the Indiana State History Museum. I’ll be honest- I wasn’t expecting a ton, but my girls LOVED IT.

There is a prehistoric exhibit with fossils and replicas of mammoths have been found in Indiana. My preschooler who loves fossils LOVED this section. There’s also a recreated ice tunnel to crawl through that my girls loved.

Next was an exhibit on settlers in Indiana with covered wagons, recreated settler cabins, and recreated farms. There were also artifacts from Abraham Lincoln’s father that I LOVED getting to see, including a large hutch that he had built.

Kids could pretend to split rails and could explore the cabins.

Upstairs was a small play area for kids that my girls loved playing in. With wooden tables, a pretend kitchen, and trains, they acted like they had never seen a play kitchen, small chairs, or toy trains in their lives. It was a lot of fun and a good chance to sit down and take a break for a second. (Although it did leave me wondering why they never play with their toy kitchen at home the same way that they play with every single one they’ve ever seen outside of our home…)

Next was an exhibit about Indiana’s contributions to pop culture, including music playing by the Jackson 5. It was fun and different from the exhibits you typically see in a history museum.

Last there were exhibits about Indiana’s hcanging transportation systems which is something that always gets kids’ attention. There were old stage coaches, antique cars, and a hands-on exhibit to teach how canals work.

Outside is a beautiful river walk as well as mastodon sculptures.

We spent about an hour here and it was a great way to show my kids “history museums are fun!” without getting too bogged down on any one exhibit.

Here’s the link for the museum.

Conner Prairie

If you’re looking for a way to get kids interested in history, check out Conner Prairie. As a Smithsonian affiliated museum, Conner Prairie has a lot of different experiences to offer.

Upon entry, there’s a huge hot air balloon that is tethered. For an additional price, you can ride in it. We chose to skip this though since 1) we’re cheap and 2) we’re all a little bit freaked out by heights.

Lenape Camp and William Conner House

Past the hot air balloon is a recreation of a Lenape Camp. Now- I’m a history teacher so maybe my expectations were too high for this, but I was a bit disappointed. I just thought there would be more emphasis on the Lenape culture that existed prior to European settlement.

While they did talk some about how the Lenape didn’t even originally live in Indiana- they lived further east and had already been pushed west to Indiana, I was still left wanting to know more.

However, one of the employees there said that there were plans to expand the Lenape Camp exhibit in the coming years.

Past the Lenape Camp is the William Conner House- a large brick house overlooking the river. As this house had not been relocated, it felt like the most authentic area of Conner Prairie. Take in the views, and take a quick look around the house.

Prairie Town, Treetop Outpost, and The Junction

Just beyond the Conner house you’ll enter the 1830s Prairie Town. This was a cool section to walk through. See prairie style houses, a one room schoolhouse, visit a general store, and climb into a covered wagon. For my daughter who loves Little House on the Prairie, this was pretty cool.

Towards the very back of Conner Prairie is Treetop Outpost. It’s a HUGE treehouse along with an 1812 style fort for kids to play on. There are sandpits, outdoor music stations, and reading nooks. This was by far our favorite place in Conner Prairie, and honestly, the only thing I would come back for. It’s well shaded and we spent the bulk of our time here.

At the very end of Conner Prairie is The Junction. While there are bathrooms and a small play room for kids, I still can’t figure out what we were supposed to see here. If you’re running low on steam or time- just skip The Junction.

Logistics

There’s a lot of walking and it’s not always on even, paved ground. Bear that in mind and definitely bring a stroller wagon for little ones.

They have a LOT of events here. Definitely check ahead of time to make sure it’s open for the public as well as if the event is appropriate for the age of children you have in your family. Some of the events definitely seemed geared towards older kids and probably would have freaked out my younger kids.

It can get HOT in Indiana. We visited in the fall and it was still brutally hot- make sure you bring plenty of water, sunhats, and sunscreen.

Speaking of water- there were no water bottle fill-ups available when we visited. Be sure to take this into account. (I wish we had packed our giant jug of water in the stroller wagon with us. Let it ride as a third kid.)

There are also not a ton of picnic tables- I think I saw one. It really felt like they wanted you to dine at their cafe. Keep that in mind if you’re planning a lunch.

You could spend a morning here, but don’t worry about blocking out an entire day for it. It was cool and my kids enjoyed it, but it wasn’t incredibly different from other historical sites we’ve done. (Except for the treehouse- the treehouse was awesome.)

Budget Tips

If you’re going to be here for a day or so, definitely look into the Indy Attraction Pass. I kept doing the math thinking that I must be making a mistake in my addition because it was such a good deal.

We used it for admission to the zoo and that was almost the cost of the pass. Then we used it for admission into the State Museum, to go back to the Children’s Museum, and to get into Conner Prairie, making the Children’s Museum and Conner Prairie essentially free for us.

Don’t sleep on this deal. I’m usually skeptical of city passes thinking there’s no way you can get your money’s worth out of them- especially with little ones in tow, but this one was an incredible deal.