The Brooklyn Children’s Museum’s Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action, their newest, extremely hands−on exhibit, lets kids try out activities they’ve never before encountered and helps develop balance, strength, coordination, and cardiovascular endurance while they pretend to be action heroes in training. Run! Jump! Fly!, designed to help combat childhood obesity and inactivity by showcasing the fun and other benefits of fitness activities they can pursue alone, with their families, or in teams, is open now to September 6.
The exhibit is bilingual, with information presented in English and Spanish, and the activities are accessible to children with varying physical abilities and developmental needs.
In the Snowboarding and Surfing adventure gallery, children try on Hawaiian shirts or down−style vests, step onto a balance boards and see how long they can stay on for the ride. A motion sensor triggers a two−minute video sequence that takes them through pine trees and past lakes as they snowboard down a mountain. Then the video takes the riders off the edge of a cliff and sailing into the clouds before landing as surfers in the ocean. (Once you’ve mastered the basic board, be sure to step up to the advanced ride.)
The Kung Fu Forest is a setting for a martial−arts session, focusing on physical coordination. Discover the art’s principles — strength, peace and respect — in positions inspired by the rooster, the snake, and the tiger. When you’ve mastered these, try stringing them together and follow a master’s graceful, fluid, and strong moves.
Another action gallery, the Climbing Canyon, features four different trails that highlight the role of strength training in physical fitness: the Toddler Trail, Beginners’ Bend, Rugged Ridge, and the Extreme Expanse. No matter your ability level, you can successfully traverse a trail and then explore a cave holding hidden treasure. Try using handholds and footholds to cross horizontal walls, and discover how lifting and holding up your own body weight can make you stronger.
At the Flycycle Sky gallery, exercise your imagination and build your endurance by strapping on a bike helmet, climbing onto one of the special bikes outfitted s with wings and propellers, and soaring up, up, and away. Pedal fast enough and long enough, and you can make a star light up before you. Then another, and another, until you’ve lit up the sky. The flycycles vary in form: one is a tandem bike with a recumbent seat in front, an upright in back and two pairs of wings above; another is a hand−pedaled chariot with an overhead propeller.
In the Action Star Training Center, you can combine your balance, strength, coordination, and endurance skills in activities easily done at home after your museum visit. Learn to do some yoga stretches and poses, try fun playground strength devises like monkey bars, and choose dance moves and music that will get your heart pumping. Be sure to pick up your own 3−Day Mission Action Tracker, an activity logs where you can record your exercise and training routines, and aim for a healthy goal of 60 minutes or movement a day.
Don’t miss the museum’s special sports−related and exercise−oriented programs this summer:
