HealthWorks Kids' Museum Opens

The new Healthworks Kids' Museum will open to the public for the first time on May 14 as the first museum solely dedicated to health education in St. Louis, featuring lots of interactive exhibits for kids to explore.

The Healthworks Kids' Museum, located near the Saint Louis Science Center, boasts 12,000 square feet of hands-on, interactive exhibits, along with programming space for educational shows. The museum is anchored by a 55-foot-long, 25-foot wide, 8 foot tall human skeletal structure that serves as a 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-about-poop panel that passes gas, the ability to go inside a skull and learn about the different part of the brain and their functions, and more.

Visitors 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 use, sun exposure and diet. There is also a mock medical office, dentist office, pharmacy and farmers market with tools, technology and dress-up stations to help kids transform themselves into mini-healthcare professionals, play the patient or play the customer at the market. There is also a fully funtioning kitchen for cooking and educational demonstrations and an immersive play space using Beam technology to host interactive floor games.

The Delta Dental Health Theatre, located at Laclede's Landing for 38 years, is also now housed in the Healthworks Kids' Museum and serves as an interactive learning center with unique, high-energy, educator led health programming. The very popular world's largest fiberglass teeth have been moved to the Healthworks Museum as well and will be on display for kids to interact with in a whole new way.

The Museum opens at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Admission is $7 per person, free for ages 2 and younger. Parking is free.

More information: hwstl.org

^{Photo courtesy of Healthworks Kids Museum}