By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Mar 01, 2010 at 3:04 PM

A new exhibit called "It’s Your Move" opened at the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum on Saturday. The exhibit is designed as a 2,000-square foot interactive board game that leads kids through a variety of challenges revolving around nutrition, safety, personal care and the importance of physical activity.

"Kids of all ages levels can navigate through the exhibit on their own and achieve any number of objectives," says Bridget Clementi, the executive director for Children’s Health Education Center.

"It’s Your Move" includes a three-story climbing / slide structure, a 14-foot rubber ball contraption and more than 20 health-focused activity stations. Plus, kids will appreciate the opportunity to press a large button that shows via light how far sneeze germs travel and the chance to spin a "The Price Is Right"-esque food wheel that identifies foods that are a "go" or a "whoa."

"It’s Your Move" replaced the 10-year-old "My Body Works" exhibit and will be intact until at least 2015. It was created through a partnership with Children’s Hospital and Health Systems and Kohl’s Department Store’s "Kohl’s Cares for Kids."

Kohl's donated $725,000 to the overall Kohl’s Healthy Kids initiative, which includes both the exhibit and the community outreach program to be operated by Children’s Health Education Center.

The Kohl’s Healthy Kids program’s mission is to address major health issues facing today’s youth, including childhood obesity.

In Milwaukee, 19 percent of all teens are overweight and 17.7 percent are obese. Safety is another targeted health issue because accidental injuries -- specifically car crashes and falls -- are the leading cause of death for Wisconsin children.

The exhibit features in-house and outreach education programs as well. Ongoing workshops teach kids how to cook healthy foods and make good choices.

"Making good choices is a big part of the exhibit’s message," says Clementi. "We all stop at fast food restaurants sometime, but we can make healthier choices when we’re there if we know what to look for."

My sons are 6 and 7, and we spent more than an hour at the exhibit. The board game layout allows some kids to go through it pawn-style, square by square, buy my two preferred to bounce around from station to station like human pinballs. That worked, too.

They appreciated the large climbing structure the most. This is arguably the exhibit’s biggest asset because of the lack of indoor playgrounds in the city of Milwaukee. (There is a Monkey Joe’s in Waukesha and The Big Backyard in New Berlin, but nothing in or around Downtown.)

Also, they enjoyed pretending to order food at the "drive through," most likely because they so rarely do it in real life.

Overall, for older kids who are already aware of basic health and safety, the exhibit -- in English and Spanish -- serves as a fun reminder, but doesn't provide very much new information. However, younger children who dig brushing a massive set of teeth or kids who are not receiving enough information will benefit the most. "Kohl’s, Children’s Hospital and Health System and the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum are all focused on teaching local kids the importance of health and safety," said Julie Gardner, Kohl’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "By teaming together, we’ve pooled our strengths to help accomplish greater things for area kids and families."


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.