Just when you thought the Children's Museum couldn't be any better, they add this new 7.5 acre amusement park/art museum/collector's showcase to draw in kids who would rather be running around and playing than looking at things inside a museum. I would guess the target ages for the park are probably 5 on up to pre-teen, though there are some activities that older kids and grown-ups can participate in too.
The official name is the Riley Children's Health Sports Legends Experience and that covers the amazing outdoor complex, the National Art Museum of Sport (Namos), the History of Hoops, and the World of Sport exhibits on the inside. The park is part of the Children's Museum and is included in your Museum entrance fee. (No plans for separate park fees at this time.) The good news is that you can still park in the museum's lot/garage and see all the fun stuff in the museum if you want, and then head over to the park through the central lobby when the kids start getting anxious to run and play.
Once inside the lobby, instead of turning right (south) to enter the museum, you turn left to go into the indoor exhibits. (Note: Save your tickets, paper or digital, because you will need to show them each time you enter the museum or the park sections.) The indoor Hoops and World of Sport areas have items to look at, many with Hoosier ties. There are even some activities to participate in like broadcasting or trying to match Reggie Miller's crazy scoring binge against the Knicks during the playoffs.
The Namos area has a lot of paintings and sculptures with sports themes. Each stop has information about the art and artist who created the pieces.
And finally, I hit the outdoor area and was amazed at all the color and fun things to engage in. The main path through the park is the Avenue of Champions which runs to the north end of the park where it reaches the massive Tree of Sports. The tree appears to be a giant tree with large sporting equipment emerging through the bark. Inside, you can climb 25 feet in the air and look out over the park. The lower levels have slides that you can use as escape route (Note: The slides are designed for kids. I was having to bend my legs in some crazy ways to keep sliding through!)
On either side of the Avenue, local teams have their logos on each of the sport centers. Pacers and Fever have multiple basketball goals and some exercises to sharpen your skills. The Colts have a mini field where you can run through tackling dummies and practice catching passes. The Indy Fuel have a street hockey version of their rink while the Indians have a home run derby area. The Indy Eleven have soccer skills, and the Indy 500 and the US Nationals Drag racing have pedal cars to allow kids negotiate those types of race courses.
Around the different sports are three lanes of track. One is for walking. One is for running. A third (the inner track) has stops along the way where you are challenged to complete certain exercises with the equipment on hand.
On the far end of the park is the golf complex. There are several 9-hole courses to play including one for toddlers, one for instruction, and two Pete and Alice Dye signature courses that are inspired by real golf course holes. I played the Red Signature Series B course and let's just say I won't be joining even the Senior tour anytime soon. For safety and fun, you use oversize plastic ended putters and a tennis ball to play. Each hole has different colored astro turf (different thicknesses too!) that represent the fairways, rough, sand traps and water. Of course, the ball rolls through the sand traps and water easily enough, but the course still is challenging. I noticed two of the nine holes were 90 feet in length, so you do have to put some "uumph" behind the strokes to get the ball to the hole.
The park has concession stands, restrooms, and water fountains without having to go back into the museum. There aren't a lot of shaded areas, but that wasn't a concern in March.
So, if you have kids (or want to play like one) who love trying new things and enjoy the physical activity of playing, this park is a Home Run (or Touchdown/Three Pointer/Ace/etc!)
Review #715 read more