Museums for children are great fun for the family

If you're tired of being cooped up in the house this winter, here's a family-friendly idea for you ‒ Take the kids to a children's museum. Memorial Hospital's “Health Works! Kids’ Museum” can bring out the kid in anyone. There children learn about being healthy ‒ good food, exercise and healthy habits are taught in a playful way. “The one thing when kids come to Health Works: We know we need to make sure they have a lot of fun, so we do field trips in a game show format,” said Sarah Seales, spokesperson for the museum. “We have our excellent museum floor here, where kids get to climb a giant skin wall, play on exhibits that encourage exercise, learn all about their bodies and their brain as well.” But watch out, you may run into some things that are really gross! “Kids love gross, so that's one of the ways we get to sort of hook them into taking care of their bodies, because our bodies do a lot of gross things, so we like to play that up with them,” said Seales. Another place you can go to play ‒ and learn ‒ is the Curious Kids’ Museum in St. Joseph, Michigan. “The Curious Kids’ Museum is a hands-on museum for children,” said Gina Mason, spokesperson for the museum. One of the first things they say when you walk in the door is “Be sure to touch everything!” With more than a hundred hand-on activities, this is a place kids will love to explore. “We have a nuclear reactor the kids can actually go in and go through, we have a ship that is like a Coast Guard ship, they can go on it, they can launch a space shuttle, they can go into Africa, they can go into Africa’s classroom to see what it would be like to be in a rural African village, they can go inside of a volcano, they can watch a volcano be erupted, they can pick apples on an apple tree,” said Mason. And that's just the beginning of the opportunities for families to play and learn together. Admission is just $4 per person to both the HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum and the Curious Kids' Museum.