Columbus, Indiana family activities

[jamesnnick]

My husband may be traveling to Columbus, Indiana for work for a large part of the summer. I am considering taking the kids DS9 and DD6 down to stay with him for 7-10 days. Does anyone have any ideas they could share for activities in/near this area? I would be willing to take day trips with the kids while he is at work, but we would like to return to Columbus in the evenings so we can spend time with him, and so we can stay in the hotel provided by his employer.

Thanks!

 

[PartyFromSaturn]

Brown County and Nashville Indiana are pretty fun, but you could probably see all that in a day or two.

I would suggest a day trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. It's awesome especially with your kids' ages.

 

[indimom]

Indianapolis Zoo is small, but nice. Includes a dolphin show and a nice Botanical Garden.

Indianapolis Children's Museum.

North of Indy is Conner Prairie, an outdoor history museum.

Holiday World is a really nice family oriented theme park.

Edinburg Outlet Malls (More for mom than the kids )


(Some of these would be a bit of a drive, but those are the few that came to mind.)

 

[tinker&belle]

Bloomington has a really, really nice museum called Wonderlab. French Lick has an indoor water park. The Brown County State Park hotel (Nashville) has a nice water indoor area that I think you can pay to come play for the day. Holiday World is really nice, as is the Indianapolis Children's Museum and Zoo.


ETA: I forgot about Brown County State Park which is nice and Spring Mill State Park near Mitchell. Springmill has lots of caves, some of which you can explore, a pioneer village with a working mill and lots of really beautiful trails. Both parks have horseback riding and Springmill has the Gus Grissom Space Center.

 

[a1tinkfans]

My little sis moved to Bloomington from the east coast..I really miss her....she LOVES it there......says it is her "new home" which makes me happy .........but still sad too...its so far away........

 

[Mom2micayla]

I grew up in Indiana and visit there at least once a year. ITA with everything everyone else mentioned.

Love Spring Mills! The settler village alone makes it worth the trip, IMO. Be sure to take home a bag of their stone ground cornmeal. Yum!

Brown County is gorgeous, although I prefer it in the fall when the leaves are changing. Lots of neat little shops and unique things to the state.

Highly recommend Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. The value is unbelievable. You get a world class water park and an amusement park all for like $40! Not to mention they offer free parking, sunscreen and sodas all day long. Food is very cheap there, especially when compared to Disney. Your kids will love it. If you can do 2 days, I'd almost recommend it. My kids never want to leave Splashin' Safari.

The Children's Museum in Indy is excellent too, and fairly cheap. You can spend a good chunk of a day there. Of course, if you get out early, there is tons of other things to do around Indy. It's your typical large city, so you won't have any issues there.

My favorite city in all of Indiana is Bloomington. I love it there. Indiana University campus is unlike any other I've been too. It's gorgeous. Monroe Reservoir is there, and you can rent pontoon boats and spend the day out on the water. If you get a chance to go out without the kids here, check out Oliver Winery if you like wine.

 

[Momma2Mia]

All great suggestions. Also, in Columbus there is a very nice children's museum too. Also must go to the ice cream shop Zaharako's. Also Louisville is about an hour south of Columbus. Great Science museum there also Louisville Slugger museum, Louisville Bats baseball etc.!

 

[harleys mom]

I the zoo in Indianapolis. It has a roller coaster, and a new tiger exhibit that the has a floor to ceiling glass wall. The childrens museum is also worth a day trip in its self. Holiday World has a awsome water park.

 

[azdizzymom]

Might be a longer drive (probably 3.5 hours from Columbus) is the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo...it is WONDERFUL! Also in Indy are the Indians the minor league baseball team with games to see. In Fort Wayne there are the Tin Caps which is another minor league team.

Will also give votes to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and Holiday World!

Enjoy Indiana...it is a great place.

 

[Sinderelly]

I'm from Brown County (Nashville) Indiana which is about 30 minutes from Columbus. Don't miss the Brown County Winery. Their Vista Red tastes excatly like Rosa Regale without the bubbles There is a gas station also close by the winery called Gnaw Mart which has the best tenderloin sandwich ever. Brown County is like Gatlinburg TN with lots of shops. There are also carriage and train rides. Your kids would probably enjoy the nature center at Brown County State Park too.

 

[fakereadhed]

We used to live in Columbus and as you can tell from the replies there isn't anything to do there!

I used to drive up to Greenwood with the kids. It's the nearest civilization. There are malls and kid friendly places. Haven't been there in years so can't be specific on what's still there, but it's Indy suburbs and very manageable with kids.

 

[dhardawa]

Brown County State Park is definitely a good place.

I don't know that the kids will like Nashville that much. It is mainly a lot of little shops.

I went to IU so I did my time in Bloomington and that place is depressing. It is essentially a small town close to nothing with a huge university. They must have gotten the land really cheap.

The Indianapolis Children's Museum is a must do.

Skip the Indianapolis Zoo and head for the Louisville Zoo. It is much nicer and right at the same distance away.

If your kids like baseball, the Louisville Slugger Museum is pretty cool. If you come on a weekday, you can take a tour while they are manufacturing bats.

If you have any interest in horse racing, spend a day at Churchill Downs.

If you have interest in racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is fun.

The Louisville Science Center is okay, but nothing compared to the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

Holiday World is okay... just okay. The water park is great, but the regular park is very dated and most of the rides are practically carnival rides. They do have two good roller coasters, but everything else is things like bumper cars, the scrambler, bumper boats, etc. It is also about a 2 hour drive from Columbus because there isn't a straight route to get you there.

Places like Spring Mill and French Lick are interesting, but be prepared to drive and drive on country highways for quite awhile to get there.

Definitely run to the Edinburgh outlet mall. It is about a 10 minute drive from Columbus.

 

[Barbaramomof4]

There is a kids museum in Columbus called Kids Commons and across the street is a new indoor playground called The Commons. As stated before everything else will be a little bit of a drive. I second the suggestion of Zaharakos!! Yummy and it is right down from The Kids Commons. The Kids Commons are on facebook if you wanna check them out under kidscommons. HTH!

 

[princessmj]

Parkside Elementary as a really nice outdoor playground that the kids I used to babysit for loved! It is called Freedom Field. There are some benches in the shade so bring a book It can get pretty hot over there so make sure you bring water for you and the kids.

If you want to bring your bikes Columbus has some really nice People Trails you can ride or walk on.

The Commons just reopened a brand new indoor playground that looks pretty neat. It is right across the street from the KidsCommons.

IUPUC (The IU campus in town) hosts some summer day campus. Check out the Columbus Center for Teaching and Learning for more infromation.

Cincinatti is about a 2 hour drive and there you can go to the Newport Aquarium, Jungle Jims (an amazing grocery store - you just need to look at the website) and Kings Island.

There is a paint your own pottery place near downtown called Simply Pottery.

There can be quite a bit to do in town if you get creative. But you also aren't far from Indianapolis, Louisville, Bloomington or Cincinatti.

I really enjoy living in Columbus, I hope you have a great time visiting!