oston Children’s Museum has an enviable reputation as a fun place for children and families. Because of this, many medical and public health agencies have partnered with Boston Children’s Museum to create innovative programs that help families make healthy lifestyle choices and encourage all children to be Healthy Kids.

Since reopening in 2007, visitors have explored and adored the two exhibits that promote healthy, active living. In Kid Power visitors learn about the importance of physical activity, and the concept of “power in and out.” The activities in the exhibit – dancing on a lighted game and dance floor, pedaling a hand-powered bike, climbing the rock wall, launching a tennis ball, and shooting baskets – are powerful demonstrations that getting physical activity is defi nitely fun. The jaw-dropping New Balance Climb is the first thing that visitors see when they come in the Museum. A 3D, full body maze, the Climb is a three-story climbing challenge and a thrill for young visitors.

To expand on the messages in these exhibits, Boston Children’s Museum conducts GoKids! programs designed to promote healthy, active living. The FY 2009 GoKids! major events included a Fitness Festival, Dance Week, Understanding the Physiology of Sports, Oral Health celebration, Food for Thought Nutritional Festival, Children and Healthcare Day, Celebrate the Boston Marathon, and World Asthma Day. Weekly activities highlighting movement and nutrition were snack making for toddlers, the ever-popular music and movement for toddlers, and lots of healthy food challenges, all geared to making healthy choices. At the annual Countdown to Kindergarten celebration, healthcare professionals provided guidance on what is needed to get children ready for school.

Outside the Museum walls, Museum GoKids! staff collaborated with Museum Community Programs and Partnership staff and with residents in four Boston Housing Authority developments to design fun programs about the importance of exercise and making healthy nutritional choices. The GoKids! in Boston Neighborhoods program offered health-related activities for kids and families in the community and at the Museum. Family nights featured the play “Balancing Act: The Musical,” and a dinner, most notably the huge potluck dinner party at Boston’s Longest Dinner Table.

At Boston Children’s Museum, children can learn to make healthy choices about nutrition and physical activity and become Healthy Kids.

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