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The Water Clock has struck midnight. Another year has come and gone. But this wasn’t just any old year—2019 was one for the record books. It was a fitting end to a legendary decade. As we look ahead to the extraordinary exhibits and events that are coming in 2020, let's take a few moments and look back on the last decade. A lot has happened over the last 10 years. Take a look at what we’ve been able to do together over the past decade (in no particular order).
10 extraordinary things from an extraordinary decade at The Children’s Museum
1. We opened The Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends ExperienceⓇ—the museum’s largest expansion in the past 40 years! The addition of 7.5 acres of indoor/outdoor fun made the world’s biggest and best children’s museum even bigger and better. You can run, jump, shoot, row, race, pass, putt, climb, and kick as you practice a sport that you love and maybe even learn a new sport! And don’t forget the indoor experiences, including the National Art Museum of Sport!
You never know who you’ll run into in the sports experience. It could be Blue, Rowdie, or Freddie. Or you might even find yourself in a pedal car race against IndyCar legends.
USA Today thinks the Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends ExperienceⓇ was one of the coolest new attractions to open in 2018. We tend to agree.
2. We hosted China’s Terra Cotta Warriors. In 2014, these protectors of the tomb of China’s first emperor visited The Children’s Museum in their only appearance in the United States. You can learn more about one of the greatest archaeological finds of our time in this video:
In addition to hosting this mysterious army, we also took you to China in Take Me ThereⓇ: China.
3. We launched Mission Jurassic in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming. In partnership with institutions around the globe, we have begun to unearth a treasure trove of Jurassic dinosaur bones, trackways, and preserved plant life from millions of years ago. These discoveries will lead to never-before-told stories about the Jurassic Period. BIG things are happening on the Jurassic Mile. You can follow all of the latest developments on the Mission Jurassic blog.
4. We opened new permanent exhibits. Here are some of the new spaces that have been added to the museum over the past decade.
- Take one small step into our recreation of the International Space Station (ISS), making one giant leap towards discovering the day-to-day duties of an astronaut in Beyond Spaceship Earth.
- Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu himself narrated the multimedia experience featured in the Schaefer Planetarium and Space Object Theater, The Future is Here—How Sci-fi Becomes Reality.
- You can explore our relationship with pop culture, including TV, movies, music, and fashion, in American POP.
- Feed the curiosity of the next generation of young scientific explorers in the remodeled Corteva Agriscience ScienceWorks.
- Uncover the mystery of an Egyptian tomb, stand face to face with Terra Cotta Warriors, and discover ancient treasures from Captain Kidd’s shipwreck in National Geographic Treasures of the Earth.
- Bumblebee! Need we say more?
5. We provided new opportunities for Preschool-aged children. The much-beloved PlayscapeⓇ received an overhaul in 2013. This opened up a new world of discovery for infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children to learn about the world around them through seeing, moving, touching, listening, and exploring.
Since 2010, The Children’s Museum Preschool has been on a mission to collaborate with children, families, and museum colleagues to support the natural curiosity and potential for young learners through observation, intentional planning, and active exploration of materials and the environment. It’s a hands-on environment that opens children’s worlds, taking learning to a new level.
6. We broke records. Thanks to extraordinary exhibits like Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds and PAW Patrol: Adventure Play, the museum set new attendance records in 2019. In March, we saw the most people to ever attend the museum in a single month! May 2019 was the highest-attended May on record!
To top things off, 2019 broke the all-time attendance record with more than 1.3 million visits! The previous record was set in 2009. What a way to close out the decade!
Chase was on the case—and you came to see him and the rest of the PAW Patrol pups!
7. We hosted more than 30 different temporary and traveling exhibits. From Bob the Builder and Doc McStuffins to alien worlds and giant Transformers, our exhibits were always changing throughout the decade. We are honored to have partnered with many organizations and brands, including Mattel, Nickelodeon, Disney, Paramount Pictures, DC Comics, the Indiana Pacers, and the Indianapolis Colts to help create opportunities for extraordinary memories!
8. We partied with the kids at heart (21+) at Museum by Moonlight! Indy’s best party kicked off in 2016 and it’s only gotten bigger and better every year! Disco dancing with the dinos, The Science of Alcohol, five floors of fun (without the kids!), free food samples from local restaurants...and that’s just the beginning! This year’s Museum by Moonlight is Feb. 29, 2020—Leap Day! It will sell out. You don’t want to miss celebrating the rarest of days in the biggest of ways. Get your tickets now!
9. We met Leonardo the Mummified Dinosaur. You can find Leonardo in DinosphereⓇ. He’s been there since 2014. He’s pretty important because he’s the most complete dinosaur mummy in the world! That’s right—dinosaur mummy. When this fossilized Brachylophosaurus was unearthed from the Montana Badlands, paleontologists had their first real look at the skin, scales, foot pads, and even stomach contents of these giants that roamed the planet 77 million years ago! Leonardo is arguably one of the most scientifically important dinosaurs to be discovered, and he’s right here at The Children’s Museum!
10. We saw many famous faces. Do you recognize any of these names? Greg Louganis, Jeanne White Ginder, Ruby Bridges, Tamika Catchings, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, George Takei, Andrew Luck, Reggie Wayne, Marlin Jackson, Dwight Freeney, Bobby “Slick” Leonard, Oscar Robertson, Tom Hanks, Ed Carpenter, Tony Kanaan, other Indy 500 drivers including Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud, and Juan Pablo Montoya, astronauts David Wolf and Kjell Lindgren, Travis “Mr. Mojo” Brown, Tuskegee Airman Arthur Carter, and Santa Claus (we know him!)—just to name a few—have visited the museum during the past decade.
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The tip of the iceberg
Wow! That’s a lot! This was just a glimpse into the past decade—the tip of the iceberg. There were so many extraordinary events and memorable moments that took place at the museum and it’s impossible to share all of them in one single post. It was a remarkable decade and it would not have been possible without your partnership! Thank you for helping us continue to make The Children’s Museum the biggest and best children’s museum in the world!
With the addition of The Pigeon and Pals! A Mo Willems Art and Play Exhibit, Wild Weather, and BarbieTM You Can Be AnythingTM: The Experience, plus a new Haunted House from The Children’s Museum Guild, 2020 promises to start the next decade on the right foot!
