June 1, 2016
A place to learn and play Learn & Play
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By Dr. Charles J. Pearson
Lachlan Woodcock sits on the Interactive Dude at HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis.
Photo courtesy of HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis
New HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis lets kids have fun while learning about health and nutrition By Sara Hardin Imagine you’re spending your afternoon at the local farmers market to find fresh produce. Each fruit and vegetable is perfectly ripe, and the farmers are ecstatic to put their healthy goods on display. What makes this farmers market scene special? The farmers are kids! They’ve spent the day learning about the importance of healthy foods, and are now selling their own to their family and friends in a mock farmers market. This is a typical day at the newly relocated HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum, the first museum in the St. Louis region devoted to health education. The museum, originally located in Laclede’s Landing for 38 years, has a new home at 1100 Macklind Avenue, about a block away from the St. Louis Science Center. The new location opened to the public on May 14, and allowed HealthWorks! to expand into a 12,000 square-foot facility full of handson learning exhibits. “The museum currently has 11 exhibits total,” said Shannon Woodcock, President and CEO of Healthworks! Kids’ Museum. “We are very education-focused. Here, you will most likely always be with a HealthWorks! employee who is able to answer your questions. That’s one thing that sets us apart. We’re very program heavy, but we are so focused on making kids excited about health and about changing their behaviors and living healthier lives.” Kids can learn about how different medicines affect different parts of the
body, what a pharmacist’s role is and who they should accept medicine from at the museum’s mock pharmacy exhibit. They can participate in nutrition programs in the full-demonstration kitchen, and create healthy, colorful plates with the produce they raise and sell in the mock farmers market. Mock demos are available in the doctor’s office, and a dental office will hopefully be available as well by early June. After watching their face age to 72-years-old at the Face Your Future exhibit, kids can learn about how tobacco use and food choices can affect their image over time. In a 4D movie experience, viewers learn about oral health before getting chewed up and swallowed for a tour of the digestive system. Kids can interact with the world’s largest fiberglass teeth by brushing them from yellow to white with an interactive light show. Perhaps the most exciting piece is the Interactive Dude, an indoor playground in the shape of a human body. “The Interactive Dude is a 55-footlong, 25-foot-wide, all-inclusive playground,” said Woodcock. “He has multiple interactive pieces. Kids and caregivers can learn together and do the different games and educational opportunities he has.” There is no end in sight for HealthWorks!, as Woodcock explained that the museum has every intent of adding an additional 15,000 square-feet of space with a second Learning Theater, a mul-
tipurpose room and many more hands-on exhibits. Area residents and businesses can help to support the museum’s efforts by becoming a Founding Member of HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. “We are still trying to wrap up our capital campaign. Every little bit helps! We have founding memberships available for a very limited time,” said Woodcock. “Any family can sign up for $250 for this year only. Not only will they get free admission for the year and the other perks of the family membership, they will also have See LEARN AND PLAY page 2
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