Let’s Move’s ‘Different Approach’ to Fighting Obesity

The Washington Free Beacon – BY: Elizabeth Harrington

The program encourages museums, zoos, and science and technology centers to implement physical activity into their exhibits and change their menus to offer healthier items. Let’s Move Museum and Gardens is run by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the first lady’s office, and is intended as a “high visibility national initiative that has the capacity to change children’s lives.”

One participating institution, the Children’s Museum of the Treasure Coast in Jensen Beach, Fla., started a farm exhibit based off a book series that features a grasshopper mascot named “Spiffy.”

“His goal is to teach kids how to live a healthy balanced lifestyle,” Mary Murphy, who works for the museum, wrote on the Let’s Move blog in a post entitled, “Children’s Museum Takes Different Approach on Childhood Obesity.”

“Spiffy’s Once Upon A Farm creates an early, positive association for children to get excited about healthy habits, physical fitness, and having fun in the process,” the post continued. “We teamed up with the Martin Memorial Health Foundation and private donor David Smythe to install play structures based on depictions from Spiffy’s Once Upon A Farm. Kids can climb the 10-foot carrot and slide down the 15-foot squash slide, having fun while getting fit and physical.”

The playground equipment is based off a children’s book series created by Nancy Erlick, whose designs are “ready to be implemented in support of Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.”

Erlick designed the “Carrot Climb,” squash slide, and an “orange go-round” out of her concern over the “increasingly disturbing trends towards lack of physical exercise and childhood obesity in today’s environment of ‘fast food’ and ‘couch potatoes.’”

“We take the issue of childhood obesity very seriously,” said Tammy Calabria, the executive director of the Children’s Museum of the Treasure Coast. “The Children’s Museum is very proud to have found a unique approach to fighting this epidemic, and we anticipate coming up with more wonderful ideas to keep kids fit in a way that’s fun for them.”

Obama’s campaign also highlighted the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York for putting on a five day Let’s Move summer camp, where kids sorted food for fun.

“During the Let’s Move! event, students worked up a sweat through a variety of activities, including yoga, which included basic poses and stretching; active games such as hopscotch; and miniature golf,” according to the Let’s Move July 31 newsletter. “Students also learned about healthy eating habits, planned their own menus using the government’s My Plate dietary guidelines, and played a food sorting game. Teachers received a list of resources and books—such as My Plate and You and The Great Outdoors—to encourage active learning in their classrooms.”