Let's Move! Guidance for Institutions

Let's Move! Museums & Gardens

Priority #1: Eat healthy, get active exhibits

Museums and gardens will commit to offering interactive experiences that promote healthy eating and physical activity.

Ideas for interactive exhibits:

Create exhibits and spaces where families can be physically active, while learning about the appropriate amount of daily screen time.
Develop programs or exhibits that help families learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices and the impact those choices can make.
Cultivate organic food/vegetable gardens, provide assistance for school and community gardens and offer related programs.
Provide inside and outside spaces and programs that use principles of universal design to create experiences that enable children and adults of all abilities to actively engage in exhibits and programs.
Create exhibits and/or host forums or discussions for the community considering the local impact of built environment policies and regulations on human health.
Work with local government to provide space for children's indoor and outdoor recreation.

Create exhibits, web experiences or apps that utilize technology to encourage physical activity in ways that are fun and interactive.

Priority #2: Learning about Healthy Choices through afterschool, summer and other programs

Programming includes healthy food choices and physical activity with emphasis on afterschool, summer, and school-based programs.

Ideas for programs:

Develop programs or exhibits that help families learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices and the impact those choices can make.
Provide professional development opportunities for teachers on nutrition (may or may not be integrated with gardening).
Offer nutritious snacks and promote good nutrition at home.
Offer and promote healthy foods; provide only healthy foods in classes, programs or camps.
Offer programs for children and families on how to grow, harvest and cook healthy, organic food.
Provide outreach programming to schools that trains faculty in fun ways to offer recess that promote physical activity and social skill development.
Serve as community partners providing afterschool programs that offer and enhance physical activity.
Create exhibits and/or host forums or discussions for the community considering the local impact of built environment policies and regulations on human health.
Build safe and accessible parks and playgrounds on museum/garden grounds and off-site, in other locations.
Provide outdoor opportunities for children to enjoy recreation activities, including walking, hiking and free play on or off museum/garden grounds.

Fifth Anniversary Toolkit (PDF, 246 KB)
Includes programming examples, graphic elements to brand your event, a template press release, and sample social media messages to help you spread the word.

Toolkit for Participating Institutions (PDF, 266 KB)
The toolkit provides communications resources and programming ideas to help you get started

Also check out EatPlayGrow, a
health educational curriculum created through a partnership between the National Institutes of Health and the Children's Museum of Manhattan.

Priority #3: Healthy food service

Museums and gardens that offer food service will already offer or will change their menu to offer food options that reflect healthy choices (for example, the Centers for Disease Control guidance on procurement (PDF, 668 KB), pages 19 – 21).

Ideas for food service:

Offer and promote healthy choices for all ages.
Cultivate organic food/vegetable gardens, provide assistance for school and community gardens and offer related programs.
Provide space for local farmers to sell fruits and vegetables. Museums and gardens connect families to farmers through programs.
Offer and promote healthy foods; provide only healthy foods in classes, programs or camps.
Encourage food service providers to develop healthy choices that are appealing to children and young people.

Priority #4: Learning about healthy food choices and physical activity using food service operation

Museums and gardens that offer food service will incorporate interpretation about healthy food choices.

Ideas for learning:

Create exhibits that help families learn the difference between advertising for healthy and unhealthy food.
Develop programs or exhibits that help families learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy choices and the impact those choices can make.
Have MyPlate resources available and visible in food service areas.
Host cooking demonstrations using healthy food choices.
Serve food from your vegetable garden and include signage in the food service area about the health benefits of cooking with food from the garden.
Develop signage for the food service area with nutrition information or tips on how much food is needed to get energy for specific activities.