For many people, world travel can be a life-changing experience. Exposure to people, cultures, and traditions that are different from one’s own builds awareness, acceptance, and respect for our neighbors around the world and next door. However, world travel may not be feasible for many children and families, which is why The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has created the Take Me There® exhibit series dedicated to immersing children in modern-day life in countries around the world.
Take Me There®: Peru, the latest exhibition in this series, opened in July of 2025. This experience pushes the boundaries of storytelling, environmental design, and interactivity in ways that fully immerse visitors in the physical and cultural landscape of modern-day Peru. This combination has created an exhibition that both advisors and visitors describe as the closest you can get to visiting Peru without going to the actual country!
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis logo
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Take Me There®: Peru at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
To create an authentic representation of the country, the exhibit team took an innovative approach to storytelling. This involved three different trips to Peru by museum staff to learn about the country firsthand, build relationships, meet real Peruvians, and document their stories. The museum focused on creating reciprocal relationships with people and communities from all three major regions of Peru—the coast, the mountains, and the rainforest—to paint a complete picture of the country’s rich and varied environments and traditions.
The team met with artists, educators, scientists, children and families, local vendors, and community leaders. Focus groups with Peruvians living in Indianapolis gave the team insight into topics and themes that would resonate with the local community.
This work laid the foundation for the exhibit’s incredible immersive environmental design. By collaborating with partners in Peru, designers were able to replicate real people and places in incredible detail.
One area of the exhibit depicts the home of the Barriga family who live in Arequipa, Peru. The environment replicates the smallest details of their home, from the light switches to the view out the window. Artifacts such as 6-year-old Killary’s school uniform and toys, along with trinkets from father Oscar’s bookshelf, were loaned by the family, allowing authentic objects to become a part of the storytelling experience in the space.
Elsewhere in the exhibit, multisensory elements such as changing light and soundscapes further immerse visitors in the various environments of Peru.
Layering on top of the story, educational messaging, and exhibit environment are 20 unique interactive elements that give visitors an active role to play within the space. These interactive elements range from completely analog experiences to highly innovative combinations of digital and physical tools, creating hands-on experiences that appeal to a wide range of learning styles and preferences. Accessibility was also a top priority, with braille and American Sign Language included in key areas of the exhibit in addition to mobility and sensory considerations.
Take Me There®: Peru at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
One of the most unique and novel experiences is a self-guided VR exploration of the rainforest. Visitors approach a binocular viewer disguising a VR headset that depicts a 3D rendering of the rainforest and camouflaged animals (one viewer is pull-under wheelchair accessible). These same animals are represented in the physical exhibit space as realistic models so that family members can engage in conversation as they spot animals together. This has created a collaborative VR experience promoting conversation between group members and supporting social learning.
Take Me There®: Peru at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Analog experiences such as engaging in pretend play to take care of baby alpacas or preparing and serving traditional Peruvian dishes in the “restaurante” pushed the team to find or create authentic pretend-play props. Team members sourced real alpaca fiber so visitors could pretend to feed and brush life-size replicas of alpacas featuring authentic fleece that provides a rich tactile experience. Specialty mold and cast pretend-play food allows visitors to make traditional Peruvian dishes like ceviche using 3D ingredients that look highly realistic.
Take Me There®: Peru at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
This unique and innovative combination of storytelling, immersive environmental design, and interactivity has led to an exhibition experience that is unlike any other in the cultural space. Families are transported across the world and leave with a newfound appreciation for the vibrant, rich, and warm culture of Peru.
Partners
Take Me There®: Peru at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Exhibit Advisors:
- Nancy Bautista, Travel & Tourism Specialist
- Fanny M. Cornejo, Yunkawasi
- María del Carmen Cossu, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
- Paola T. Fisher, The Core World Foundation Corp.
- Miluska M. Olguin de Hall, Educator
- Exhibit Contributors:
- Leyla Aboudayeh, Monumental Callao
- Barriga Borja Family
- Cake, Peruvian Artist
- Center of Peruvian Arts
- Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco
- Felipe Coaquira, Peruvian Artist
- Colegio Nuestra del Pilar – Lima
- Decertor, Peruvian Artist
- Embassy of Peru in the United States of America
- Estudios Tawa
- Gerson Ferrer, Yunkawasi
- Wade Gease
- Huama Community
- Jardín Urpicha Kids
- The Juice Stall – Jugería Criss
- Kuzco Handmade
- Ministry of Culture, Perú
- Central for Interpretation and Translation in Indigenous Languages, Perú Ministry of Culture
- Directorate of Indigenous Languages, Perú Ministry of Culture
- Oscar Mishaja, member of Ese’ Eja Native Community of Infierno
- The Monks, Peruvian Artist
- Monumental Callao
- Museo Sulca Textiles
- Pisco Mar Restaurant, Indianapolis
- Carlos Torres Ponce, Peruvian Musician
- PROMPERÚ
- Brus Rubio, Peruvian Artist
- White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, a ministry of the Sisters of Providence
- Wired Amazon by Rainforest Expeditions
Exhibit advisors provided long-term support of the project, from concept to completion. They arranged travel, introduced the team to people and organizations throughout Peru, sourced materials, and reviewed exhibit content for accuracy. In many instances, our advisory team took on the role of critical friend, challenging the museum team to take on new perspectives and uncover biases to allow for the authentic stories of real Peruvians to shine through.
Exhibit contributors provided additional support in their areas of expertise. Contributors represent a range of professions, including artists, musicians, linguists, scientists, educators, and everyday Peruvian people. In many instances, they generously invited museum staff into their homes, communities, and personal spaces and shared their stories and expertise with museum staff. Contributors also provided content reviews and in some instances produced elements that appear in the exhibition (such as commissioned artwork and musical arrangements).
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Take Me There®: Peru at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
