New Attraction Serves as the Region’s First-Ever Children’s Health Museum and Features the First Fully Accessible Indoor Playground
In a matter of weeks, the region’s first-ever children’s museum solely dedicated to health education will open its doors to deliver a unique form of ‘edutainment’ designed to give children, and families, the passion to lead healthy lives. Debuting as HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis, the $2.5 million facility boasts 12,000 square feet of hands-on, interactive exhibit and programming space that is accessible to those of all abilities. It will open to the public on Saturday, May 14 at 10 a.m. HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis is located at 1100 Macklind Ave, near the Saint Louis Science Center. Admission is $7 per person and free for those 2 years-old and younger. Parking is free.
“It is time to infectiously contaminate children of all ages to learn, have fun and make great life choices,” commented Shannon Woodcock, president and CEO of HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. “We will be working on the rapid spread of healthy life habits, and couldn’t be more excited to open our doors and begin infecting the countless individuals we expect to welcome to our facility in the years to come. Let’s let this epidemic begin!”
HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis is anchored by a 55-foot long, 25-foot wide, 8-foot tall human skeletal structure that serves as the first universally accessible indoor playground. This “Interactive Dude” features a leg slide; a bone balance beam; an electronic, memory-style healthy eating game that is attached to the digestive track; an all-bout poop panel that passes gas; the ability to go inside a skull and learn about the different parts of the brain and their functions; and more.
Visiting children can also take a virtual 10-minute, 4D tour through the mouth, following an apple’s trip through the digestive system in The Mouth Theatre, which includes a bubble experience. The Face Your Future exhibit gives children a glimpse into the future using age progression software that showcases what each child could look like based on life choices tied to tobacco usage, sun health and food consumption. There is also a mock medical office, dentist office, pharmacy and Farmer’s Market with tools, technology and dress-up stations to help kids transform themselves into mini-healthcare professionals or play the patient or customer. There is also an All About Me data collection station; a fully-functioning kitchen for cooking demonstrations and educational series, and an immersive play space using BeamTM (previously EyePlay) technology to host interactive floor games.
The Delta Dental Health Theatre, which was a popular fixture on Laclede’s Landing for the last 38 years, is also housed in HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. It serves as an interactive learning center with unique, high-energy, educator-led programming that will increase individual knowledge about the connection between personal choices and health outcomes, encourage positive health practices and turns visitors into health advocates for themselves, their families and this community. The widely-popular, world’s largest fiberglass teeth will also be on display for kids to interact with in a whole new way.
The general contractor for this landmark project was ISC Contracting, with the exhibit design work completed by Qualified Services, Inc. Cre8play is the company that designed and fabricated the “Interactive Dude.”
HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis became a reality thanks to a capital campaign that got underway in the spring of 2015 with the goal of raising $2.5 million for this project. To date, more than $1.5 million has been secured, thanks, in large part, to an $850,000 contribution by long-time supporter Delta Dental of Missouri. The state’s leading dental benefits company is deeply committed, in principle and in practice, to advancing oral health and overall health for individuals, children and families in the communities it serves. Other key financial supporters include members of the Delta Dental Health Theatre’s Board of Directors and staff, St. Louis Office for Developmental Disability Resources, The Smile Generation, The Little Medical School, Dana Brown Charitable Trust, Jefferson Memorial Community Foundation, theTrio Foundation of St. Louis and IKEA. This project is also coming to fruition through a partnership with the Saint Louis Science Center and collaborations with several regional healthcare and business organizations. The building housing the new museum is owned by the Saint Louis Science Center Foundation, which has entered into a long-term lease agreement with HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis.
Naming rights for the “Interactive Dude” and other key attractions within the museum remain, providing an exceptional opportunity for a local organization to step up and be directly associated with the region’s most innovative new entertainment venue. Area residents and businesses can also support this effort by becoming a Founding Member of Healthworks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis for only $250 and available for a limited time only.
HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis has the capacity to reach up to 150,000 children annually. It will be open every Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., and closed on Mondays. Discounted admission pricing is given for field trips, and other groups of 10 and more. Reservations can be made at (314) 241-7391.
To learn about HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis, call (314) 241-7391, visit www.hwstl.org find the organization on Facebook or follow them on Twitter using the handle @youcantoucan.
HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis came into existence as a result of efforts to expand The Delta Dental Health Theatre to address broader, overall health issues after Delta Dental of Missouri became a major corporate sponsor in 2004. Those plans evolved and grew more ambitious over the next several years, ultimately leading to the closure of the original theatre on Laclede’s Landing in downtown St. Louis after 38 years so it could be housed in the new, dramatically expanded museum. The Delta Dental Health Theatre was originally organized as a program under the Foundation of the Greater St. Louis Dental Society in 1977. In 2002, it was incorporated as an independent 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization.
To learn more, contact:
Kelly Harris
The Hauser Group
314.436.9090
OR
Shannon Woodcock
HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis
314.241.7391