Historic National Road - Indiana
Children's Museum of Indianapolis, IN

This is the largest children's museum in the world. This interactive museum provides an environment for growth and learning, but most of all 'fun.' While here, children and adults alike can participate in learning activities. Visitors can get their hands dirty at an archaeological dig, pace the platform of a Victorian railway depot, ride a turn-of-the-century carousel, barter for goods in a French fur-trading post, sit in the driver's seat of an Indianapolis race car, and pet a snake. There is even a separate hands-on gallery designed especially for preschoolers.

Another gallery, The Eli Lilly Center for Arts Exploration (CFAX), encourages self-expression and creativity by providing experiences in dance, song, literature, and art. Although all children's museums consider education as their primary purpose, these institutions vary greatly in subject and scope.

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is unusual among youth museums because it maintains and uses a vast collection of more than 105,000 artifacts. Other youth museums do not use or do not have an artifact collection and rely instead on newer, hands-on exhibits. Some are social/cultural museums, while others are science centers, nature centers, activity centers, or junior affiliates of art, history, or general museums. Some are housed in large modern buildings while others can be found in renovated Victorian homes.