Has anybody done the Terra Cotta Painted Warriors exhibit at the Indy children's museum?

[PeterPan]

Good?  Worth doing?  What about with an active almost 6 yo?

[SoCalLynn]

We saw this exhibit when it came to Orange County, CA. My daughter was 12 or 13 at the time. For a 6 year old, I probably wouldn't spend a lot of time going through it. Other than seeing the soldiers and some of the other artifacts, they will probably quickly become bored. Unless they already know a bit about it beforehand I wouldn't plan on it holding their interest for very long. For me, I was completely fascinated to see something I'd only heard or read about for years. My daughter thought it was interesting. I think we spent about 2 hours going through it and by that time she was really done. Do you get admission to the rest of the children's museum with your ticket? That would make it worth going and spending the rest of the day there. We loved the Indy Children's Museum, as you probably already know it is fantastic.

[GinaPagnato]

We saw this exhibit when it came to Orange County, CA. My daughter was 12 or 13 at the time. For a 6 year old, I probably wouldn't spend a lot of time going through it. Other than seeing the soldiers and some of the other artifacts, they will probably quickly become bored. Unless they already know a bit about it beforehand I wouldn't plan on it holding their interest for very long. For me, I was completely fascinated to see something I'd only heard or read about for years. My daughter thought it was interesting. I think we spent about 2 hours going through it and by that time she was really done. Do you get admission to the rest of the children's museum with your ticket? That would make it worth going and spending the rest of the day there. We loved the Indy Children's Museum, as you probably already know it is fantastic.

 

 

:iagree:

 

Saw it when it came to DC and I agree with the above.

[Violet Crown]

Another agreement with SoCalLynn. We saw it in Houston. We went with another family so that when the littles got bored and fidgety, we could take them to more pleasing areas of the museum.

[EmilyGF]

I thought the museum did a great job incorporating hands on activities. However, my 7 and 9 year olds appreciated it a lot more than my 5 year old.

 

ETA: Whoops, we left our 5-year-old with another adult because she found the warriors too scary! 

[PeterPan]

Hmm, thanks!  Guess that solves that!  :)

[kewb]

We saw the exhibit when it was in Dc a couple of years ago. They were 11 and 13, I believe. I don't know that it would be interesting enough for a 5 year old unless it was a subject of interest.

[FriedClams]

We did it when my kids were 7-8ish. The LOVED it. We did the kid audio tour and it made all the difference.

[Wabi Sabi]

The Indianapolis Children's Museum has had an exhibit with reproductions of the terra cotta warriors for several years now and my children have enjoyed it quite a bit. We haven't been to the museum since they've had the real ones on display, but we're definitely going to go before it closes (Nov. 1, I think.) 

I don't know how far of a drive it is for you, but in general, yes, I'd say that it's worth a visit. Although I can't speak specifically to the traveling exhibit, in general the museum has so much to do that there's bound to be something for everyone. You can easily spend an entire day at the museum. 

[Happygrl]

We did the exhibit at the Indy Children's Museum in July.  We enjoyed it but I wouldn't pay full price for it, honestly.  The member discounted tickets were about the price I'd say for getting our money's worth, maybe a bit underpriced.  

[Violet Crown]

Wait, one other thing, and I can't believe this didn't occur to me. In Houston, in one room of the exhibit there was a "living statue"; a guy made up like one of the statues and standing perfectly still, who would suddenly move or gesture, startling everyone. I really wished there had been some warning because Wee Girl with her anxiety problems was very upset. I don't know if this was part of the exhibit in other cities, though.

[Farrar]

We saw it when my kids were 7 yo and they loved it. We spend a lot of time in museums, but it was memorable enough that they still, almost three years later, can refer to it and remember it well. So...  I think it depends on the kid. I would have taken a 6 yo without a question. But my kids were also very accustomed to museums at age 6 and would have been able to pay attention and get something out of it. It's a pretty awesome exhibit.

[Spryte]

We saw this when DS was 6.  He loved it.  

[EmilyGF]

I was on my phone before. 

 

I don't know if this was the same exhibit as in the other museums.

 

The Indianapolis one was great. There were some soldiers, explanations on how they were made, then a place where you could use that technique to make miniature ones. THere were spaces to hold the same number of miniature ones as have been found in China (to put into context that huge number). There were broken rubber statues that kids could put back together like an archeologist. Very tricky but lots of fun. There were stations on how the paints were made.

 

I've been to the Boston Children's Museum a lot and I found this exhibit (and the Indianapolis Museum) to be much better than anything there. (Sorry, Boston!) However, the day was quite pricey. We actually took our 2-year-old to the Warriors, but left our sweet 5-year-old with another adult because she found them scary and we didn't want to pay extra for something that would upset her. We spent about an hour in the exhibit and had to pry our older kids away from the hands on areas. Our 2-year-old spent the time destroying other people's clay mini-soldiers, playing with the pieces of the rubber soldiers, and posing like the displayed soldiers.

[PeterPan]

We didn't get to do it this trip, so maybe another time!  Thanks ladies!!!