Video games and cartoons take up a lot of children’s time, and Children’s Museums of Atlanta is out to combat childhood inertia with its newest exhibit, Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action™. The exhibit, running through May 27, 2019, invites children and adults to explore activities such as kung fu, surfing, snowboarding, yoga, and horizontal climbing – all to get kids into action by playing and doing things they enjoy.
Featuring the theme of action adventures popular in children’s books and movies, Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action invites visitors to jump into action star training – builds strength, coordination, balance, and endurance.
Cultural spotlights and real-life stories of young people and families who are passionate about a particular activity aim to deepen visitors’ motivation about fitness. As guests move through the exhibit and have fun with physical activity, they will get ideas for how they can become more active daily.
Kids and accompanying adults are encouraged to acquire stamp for activities that they have tried on Action Trackers. Visitors can also take home Action Tracker 3-Day Missions – activity logs that encourage people to get physical activity for a total of 60 minutes a day.
Exhibit Components
- Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action features four adventure scenes and an action star training center. Each adventure scene provides an imaginative setting in which kids can try out a high appeal physical activity and highlights balance, strength, coordination or cardiovascular endurance.
- Surfing and Snowboarding (Balance): Visitors don Hawaiian shirts or down-style vests, choose one of four balance boards – two basic and two advanced – and see how long they can stay on for the ride. A motion sensor triggers a two-minute video sequence that takes the riders 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. The activity challenges and builds the riders’ balance.
- Kung Fu Forest (Coordination): Visitors enter a clearing in a bamboo forest and begin the kung fu session with a bow to show the three principles of kung fu: strength, peace, and respect. Three lantern posts display instructional images of kung fu animal stances – still, “ready” positions inspired by the rooster, the snake, and the tiger. After visitors try the animal stances, they can push a button to trigger a sequence of lightbox images that guide the participant from still poses into a flow of action. The panels also illustrate the cultural origins of kung fu and other martial arts.
- Climbing Canyon (Strength): A trailhead marker introduces four different trails: the Toddler Trail, Beginners’ Bend, Rugged Ridge, and the Extreme Expanse. Visitors of varying skill and ability levels successfully traverse the trails to safely explore a cave holding a hidden treasure. Hand and footholds guide the visitors across the horizontal walls. The climbing canyon shows visitors how lifting and holding up their own body weight is a valid strength-building activity.
- Flycycle Sky (Endurance): Visitors merge their imagination with physical activity when they strap on a bike helmet and climb on one of the exhibit’s flycycles. These stationary bikes with wings or propellers each face a cloud-shaped panel. For every few rotations of the wheels, a star lights up in 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.
- Action Star Training (Balance, Strength, Coordination, Cardiovascular and Muscular Endurance): The action star training center provides visitors with challenges of balance, strength, coordination and cardiovascular and muscular endurance through simple activities that kids can do at home.
- At the Yoga Station, visitors try out the tree pose and the cat stretch, as well as learn the origins of yoga.
- At the Strength Center, a kid-friendly interpretation of gym equipment, visitors experiment with upper- and lower-body strength. They can try out monkey bars, leg presses, self-weighted rowers, and adaptive chin-ups.
- In the Dance Club, visitors choose dance moves and music to get their heart pumping, going freestyle or following the dancer on the screen.
- Toddler Pyramid: The toddler pyramid offers the youngest visitors a separate place to experiment with physical activity away from the thick of the action. With adventure-theme flair, the Toddler Pyramid features toddler-sized steps, a climbing net, and a slide. It emphasizes that you are never too young to be physically active.
The exhibit aims primarily at children ages 5-12, while children 2-5 will also be able to join in the fun at many of the activities. Additionally, Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action developers worked to make the exhibit activities accessible to visitors with varying physical abilities and developmental needs. General Mills sponsored Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action.
I was given tickets to the Children's Museum of Atlanta, for the purpose of a review. My kids sadly have aged out from the museum. So I invited a long time reader Abbey Leigh Adler to attend Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action™ at the Children's Museum of Atlanta in my place. This is Abbey's review!
As you might know, finding activities for children of multiple ages (mine are 8 and 3) that are both fun AND engaging can be difficult. The Run! Jump Fly! Exhibit was exactly what the family needed.
Upon arriving at the exhibit, we discovered the centerpiece is a large snowboard and surfing display with balance boards set up for the children to practice their balancing abilities. My 8-year-old was quick to jump on and prove to the world that he can balance and hang ten with the best of them. Little did he know, he was also exercising his core muscles at the same time.
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While he was snowboarding down the side of a mountain, my 3 year old decided to climb up and slide down the Toddler Pyramid many times. As anyone with a small child will tell you, once a fun activity has been found there is no stopping them. Not only was she an expert on the slide, but she demonstrated patience always making room and helping the younger explorers. This exhibit is designed for children as young as 18 months.
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After both children had explored activities individually, they came together to explore the climbing canyon. Following different paths, the children were able to make their way through the climbing canyon, each having a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Having climbed through the canyon, it was now time to cycle through the air together on the Fly Cycle. Here they pedaled in unison to flap the wings of their vehicle and light up the nighttime stars. Working together, they were able to complete their mission and were ready to move on to a variety of other activities that tested their strength and coordination.
This new interactive exhibit offered great experiences while giving the kids a chance to remain active. The kids tested their balancing, climbing, and pedaling skills as well as swinging across monkey bars, simulating rowing a boat, and learning new yoga poses. The kids are already asking “When can we go again?”
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Museum Admission: Plan ahead and save! Families can purchase timed tickets online in advance to save money and guarantee entry to the Museum. Babies under 12 months and members are admitted for free. All daily programs are included in the price of admission. Group rates and military discounts are available. For more information regarding ticket and membership options, visit the Children's Museum of Atlanta.
Museum Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Closed on Wednesdays. Please check the Museum website to confirm hours of operation.
Children’s Museum of Atlanta is the only educational venue of its kind in Atlanta, presenting educational programs and exhibits designed for young children ages 0-9. The Museum’s mission is to spark imagination and inspire discovery and learning for all children through the power of play. With six permanent learning zones consisting of bright, creative and hands-on exhibits, the Museum supports inventive play-based exploration and experiential learning focused on the whole child. Core competencies for literacy, math, and science are promoted throughout all exhibits and programming in alignment with the state and national Core Performance Standards. The Children’s Museum of Atlanta also offers parties, memberships, field trips, summer camp, and private events. For more information or to support the Children's Museum of Atlanta, or call 404.659.KIDS [5437].
The Children’s Museum of Atlanta is located at 275 Centennial Olympic Park Dr NW in Atlanta, GA 30313.
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