Creative Discovery Museum is pleased to announce that the extremely popular Good For You: Healthy Fun on the Run exhibit, which made its debut last year, will return beginning Saturday, January 29, 2011. A day of “Fun and Food Unleashed,” a series of opening day special events, will headline the exhibit’s return to the Scenic City.

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. Recently, the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation announced a $90,000 gift to underwrite a statewide tour of the exhibit beginning in June. The two-year tour willinclude stops in Johnson City, Memphis and Nashville.

“Fun and Food Unleashed” kicks off the exhibit’s January 29threturn. Beginning at 10:30 a.m., families will be able to spend their Saturday sampling food and trying out new ways to move their bodies. Visitors will see hula hoop experts and aerialists, get to sample new ways to prepare old favorite foods, and have an opportunity to try new things while experiencing one of the best children's museums in the country.

Opening Day, January 29th“Food and Fun Unleashed” Events Schedule:

10:30A - 3:00P Visitors can discover fun new ways to keep moving with a visit the museum’ s, Try Some New Moves Corner, which will feature pogo sticks, carpet skates, bucket stilts, balance boards, and sports equipment that is often overlooked.

11:00A - 12:00P A Hula hooping demonstration and mini class will be presented by Lia Harrell from Hooptonic.

1:00P - 3:00P To encourage healthy eating, several tasting stations will be available to guests offering simple , child-friendly, economical alternatives to junk food.

1:00P - 2:00P Aerial demonstration by students from Chattanooga Aerials and guests will be invited to try their skills on the silk and have an opportunity to learn more about aerial dance from Amy Powell, owner of Chattanooga Aerials.

About the Exhibit

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 teaching kitchen. The exhibit will be on display from January 29 through May 15 before beginning its two year statewide tour.

“More than a third of our children in Tennessee are overweight. It is important for us to create opportunities to reach them with lessons about healthy lifestyles.” said Dr. Robert Mandel, BlueCross’ senior vice president for health care services. “The Good For You exhibit, with its blend of activities, delivers the message of good nutrition and exercise in a fun way for our kids .”

“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. “Our goal is 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.”

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. The exhibit is also supported by the Museum’s teaching kitchen, Culinary Corner, which officially opened in November 2009. Culinary Corner plays host to children’s “cooking” birthday parties, 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 $10.95 for adults and children. For more information, call (423) 756-2738 or visit www.cdmfun.org