Waterway Exploration with the Indiana State Museum

Waterway Exploration comes to the East 38th Street Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library on Monday, November 9, from 4 PM to 5 PM. It's a hands-on program for kids ages 6 to 12, put together with the Indiana State Museum.

The whole hour is built around how water moves and how we work with it. The kids spend the session building bridges and dams, and designing their own boats, so they get to see firsthand what happens when you change the flow of a stream or try to keep a vessel afloat. It's the kind of thing that works best when you're actually doing it rather than just reading about it, and the age range—6 to 12—means it's geared toward elementary and middle schoolers who can handle the building part.

The branch itself is a good spot for a family afternoon. The East 38th Street Branch opened in mid-2003, replacing the old Emerson Branch, which had been running since 1957. That original branch started in a frame house at 3642 N. Emerson Avenue, and when it got too small, they built a 7,500-square-foot building on the same spot in 1962. The current building is a different animal entirely: it sits on three acres, spans 16,000 square feet, and has a distinctive triangular shape with windows on all three sides. There's more than 60 parking spaces, so you won't have to circle the block too long before you find a spot.

If you've got kids in that 6-to-12 range, it's a simple way to spend a Monday afternoon. The program runs from 4 PM to 5 PM at the East 38th Street Branch, 5420 East 38th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46218.