INDIANAPOLIS — The Children's Museum of Indianapolis opened its new and improved Dinosphere exhibit that's been closed for the past year. The exhibit still has some of the favorites it has featured since its opening in 2004, but has added plenty.
"People will be pleased to know that those dinosaurs they grew up with and loved in Cretaceous area are back open, they're looking clean and new," said Chris Carron, director of collections with the museum, as he showed off the new additions. "We also have new dinosaurs we've added from the giants of the Jurassic. These are sauropods that we dug ourselves. They're 28 feet up in the air, they're 65 feet long, and they're amazing to see."
The Children's Museum has its own dig site in Wyoming where scientists have been working the past six years and discovered the sauropod fossils.
"We're thrilled," said Carron. "We started planning this addition in 2014 and we've been digging for five going on six years. This is the culmination of a lot of work and we're thrilled."
The new Dinosphere also features plenty of hands-on experiences to help kids learn about the dinosaurs they're seeing. They also received a grant from the federal government to make each part of the exhibit interactive and accessible for those who are blind or have low vision.
"This has always been the biggest draw at the museum and I'm sure that will continue," said Carron. "I remember to when I was a kid and played with dinosaurs. We're fascinated by their size, by what you can learn from something that's under foot when you're walking in the woods. It's thrilling and it sparks the imagination."