FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Libby Raiford, 423-648-6096, lfr@cdmfun.org
Carla Campbell, 423-648-6054, cbc@cdmfun.org
Sarah Bowen, 423-280-4672, sarahruns@comcast.net
Creative Discovery Museum Kicks Off 2010 With
New Exhibit Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Good For You: Healthy Fun on the Run Open Jan. 22 - May 16
(December 4, 2009) – Creative Discovery Museum is pleased to announce that the grand opening of its new Good For You: Healthy Fun on the Run exhibit will take place on Friday, January 22, 2010.
With childhood obesity ranking as one of the most important issues facing the United States, especially in Tennessee, the exhibit is part of the Museum’s health initiative to teach children and their families that living healthy, active lifestyles can be easy and fun. The bilingual exhibit was developed and produced by Creative Discovery Museum with a major gift of $300,000 from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation and funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The exhibit tells the story of Ginger and her friends in the Good for You Crew. Ginger is a potato chip eating, soda guzzling couch potato who loves to watch T.V. When her mother orders her out of the house, she and her faithful dog George begin an adventure that leads to a world of healthy foods and active play.
When guests enter the exhibit, they are greeted by life sized cutouts of Ginger and the Good for You Crew. In the introductory area, visitors listen to their heart beat and participate in hands-on activities that teach the importance of balancing good food choices (energy in) with physical activities (energy out). Visitors enter a room with an interactive video wall where they use their whole bodies to capture floating images of foods to create a balanced meal.
As visitors continue through the exhibit, they pick authentic looking fruits and vegetables in Sam’s garden and take them to Maria’s Farmer’s Market where they assume the roles of shoppers and sellers as they learn about healthy food choices. To promote physical movement, children are invited into Nelson’s Treehouse for climbing and then visit Michael and Lea’s campsite where they explore a cave, traverse a rock wall and try out a kayak. Children then venture into Josh’s Living Room where families will enjoy activities like building cardboard forts and playing twister showing the many ways you can be active in your own home. Visitors will also be invited to sample foods and participate in cooking activities in the Culinary Corner, the Museum’s new teaching kitchen. The exhibit will be on display from January 22 through May 16 and will return on an annual basis for the next four years.
Vicky Gregg, President and CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee said, “With one in five children in the United States now considered overweight, unless their behavior and poor lifestyle choices are identified and corrected, many of them will go on to develop serious medical problems. By partnering and collaborating with families, schools, health care professionals, and organizations, we have the ability to promote healthy lifestyle choices for all of Tennessee’s children. The Good for You exhibit is a huge step toward fulfilling that vision.”
“Giving children the opportunity to make choices and showing them that they can easily balance their food choices and enjoy physical activity, provides them with the necessary tools to live a healthy lifestyle,” said Dr. Jayne Griffin, Director of Education for the Museum. “We want to teach kids and their families that being healthy is the result of making good food choices and exercising your body. Most importantly, making good choices can be done by everyone and it can be fun, too.”
About the Exhibit
The Good for You: Healthy Fun on the Run exhibit includes the following areas:
Entrance Area
Visitors are greeted by life-sized cutouts of Ginger, her faithful dog George and all the members of the Good for You Crew: Sam, Maria, Michael, Lea, Josh and Nelson. The entrance graphic provides a perfect photo opportunity for children to join the crew.
Introductory Area
In this area, visitors can listen to their heart as a red light flashes and a drum plays in exact sync with the user’s heartbeat. An interactive game illustrates the importance of balancing food choices (energy in) with physical activities (energy out). This area also features an interactive video wall where children need to use their whole bodies to capture floating images of food and create a balanced meal on their plate.
Sam’s Garden and Kitchen
These areas allow visitors to experience food “from the garden to the table” as they plant food and gather it to cook. The garden includes furrows for planting and picking
authentic looking vegetables as well as vines and trees holding fruit. After planting and gathering food, children will delight in taking the food to a play kitchen where they can be chefs using recipes and equipment just their size. Children will learn all about nutrition and discover how healthy it is to eat foods of many different colors in the “eat a rainbow” activity.
Maria’s Farmers’ Market
At the Farmers’ Market with its bins of fruits, vegetables and other products, visitors can investigate healthy food choices and discover what parts of a plant they eat: fruit, root or leaf. Costumes and cash registers are provided so children can take on the role of shoppers or sellers.
Nelson’s Treehouse
The Treehouse provides opportunities for climbing and encourages healthy outdoor play. Visitors will enjoy raising the flag, using pulleys to move supplies up the treehouse and let their imaginations run wild in their treetop clubhouse.
Michael and Lea’s Campsite
Visitors will have an opportunity to explore more ways to enjoy physical movement and also connect with nature at the campsite. Kids can traverse a climbing wall, try out a whitewater kayak, go camping, “sleep” in a tent and explore a cave.
Healthy House: Josh’s Living Room
This area provides guests with a variety of active movement based activities for fun in-door play. Guests can build forts, play dress up and engage in board games.
As a companion to the exhibit there is a children’s book, Good for You: Adventures with Ginger and George, written by Lynne Mulligan, Programs Manager at Creative Discovery Museum and illustrated by David Young, an Art Professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Ms. Mulligan will be doing a book signing in conjunction with the Grand Opening. The exhibit will also be supported by the Museum’s teaching kitchen, Culinary Corner, which officially opened in November. Culinary Corner allows for live cooking demonstrations and is home to a wide variety of educational programs designed to let families discover the fun of eating well.
Good for You: Adventures with Ginger and George, and the exhibit Good For You: Healthy Fun on the Run are made possible by grants from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Creative Discovery Museum is a Good to Grow Museum as designated by the Association of Children’s Museums.
Museum admission is $9.95 for adults and children. For more information, call (423) 756-2738.
About Creative Discovery Museum
Creative Discovery Museum is open Mon-Sat: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun: noon-5 p.m. CLOSED Wednesdays. 321 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. Creative Discovery Museum is recognized as one of the top children’s museums in the nation. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to educational enrichment for children ages 4-months to 12-years-old through interactive, hands-on experiences that foster creative and critical thinking. Creative Discovery Museum focuses on a broad range of areas encompassed by Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Technology and the Sciences. In addition to its exhibits, Creative Discovery Museum provides local residents and visitors with special events, educational programming, teacher resources for the classroom, field trips, after school programming, early childhood education classes, artist residencies, camps, art lessons, science demonstrations, and a branch of the local library. Creative Discovery Museum is a funded agency of Allied Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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