Children of all abilities can interact with the exhibits in our all inclusive indoor playground. Take a sneak peek at the fun you’ll have at HealthWorks!
Self-Guided Exhibits
World’s Largest Fiberglass Teeth
As visitors enter the museum, they are greeted with a familiar smile – the widely-popular, pearly whites heralded as the world’s largest fiberglass teeth. These three-foot-tall, light-up teeth were one of the most memorable features of the original Delta Dental Health Theatre and will continue shining for the next generation of healthy smiles. Kids have the ability to interact with these teeth in a whole new way. Here’s a hint, but not a spoiler – you have to brush, brush, brush!
Dental Office
Sponsorships Available
The dentist office provides the perfect place to practice. It’s outfitted with a dental chair, stationary microscope showcasing oral health issues like cavities, a brushing and flossing station, an x-ray area, a good vs. bad breath display, and more.
The Interactive Dude
HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis is anchored by a 55-foot long, 25-foot wide, 8-foot tall human skeletal structure that serves as a universally accessible indoor playground. The Interactive Dude was designed in partnership with Unlimited Play, an organization devoted to ensuring that ALL children of all abilities have a place to play.
Through the support of Unlimited Play, the Interactive Dude allows for children with physical and developmental disabilities to feel comfortable playing and learning. The lights, sounds and materials used to build the structure were included to benefit children with unique sensory needs.
The Interactive Dude features a leg slide, a bone balance beam, and the ability to explore under the rib cage. Children can also play an electronic, memory-style healthy eating game that is attached to the digestive tract. Visitors can also walk inside the skull and learn about the different parts of the brain and their functions as the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes, the cerebellum and the brainstem all light up overhead. This structure further boasts an all-bout poop panel that features a passing gas sound effect (minus the odor), as well as informative displays about heart health and the harms of smoking.
The Interactive Dude was funded through a grant awarded to Unlimited Play by the St. Louis Office for Developmental Disabilities (DD Resources), whose mission is to ensure individuals with developmental disabilities in the City of St. Louis have quality services, choices and full inclusion. DD Resources serves St. Louis City residents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and intellectual disability.
Medical Office
Sponsorships Available
With the needed tools, technology, and dress-up attire, kids can transform themselves into mini-healthcare professionals, or play the patient or customer, in real-life-like settings. The medical office is just what the doctor ordered, complete with an examination table and stool, play medical instruments and equipment, script cards for guided play, educational resources and MyScope technology that allows kids to see their skin in a whole new way.
Pharmacy
Head over to the pharmacy where “pharmacists” can count capsules and complete the process of filling faux medication. And, while waiting, individuals can play a medicine safety game called “Pill vs. Candy”.
Play Pill vs Candy
Grossology
Sponsorships Available
Gurgle Glug
With a press on the cartoon-like body, visitors will listen to the sounds the body makes: stomach gurgles, air movement in the lungs, the heart beating and gulping in the throat!
Sniff Sniff
Visitors are challenged to match the body odors with the correct area of the body: armpits, lower intestine, mouth or feet!
Farmers Market
Sponsorships Available
From seed to plant to plate, this interactive play area allows individuals to harvest life-like fruits and vegetables from the garden, take them to market, weigh them and make a purchase. From there, they can take their produce to the picnic area to create a healthy meal.
Special Exhibits for Scheduled Programs
Health educator led programs are available everyday (unless otherwise noted). Get the schedule at the front desk or call ahead for more information. Space availability may vary based on the attendance of field trips and large groups.
Delta Dental Health Theatre
This popular fixture on Laclede’s Landing for the last 38 years is now housed in HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. It serves as an interactive learning center with unique, high-energy, educator-led programming that increases individual knowledge about the connection between personal choices and health outcomes, encourages positive health practices and turns visitors into health advocates for themselves, their families and this community. There is a menu of different program offerings, that change every few months, so groups and parties with little tikes, or even tweens, can find the perfect fit.
Explore Our Learning Theatre Programs
The Mouth Theater
Mosey on into the mouth and have a seat. A dentist and his pediatrician friend will greet those inside and take them on a virtual 10-minute tour that begins in the mouth, then follows an apple’s trip through the digestive system. Yep, the mouth bites into a big juicy apple, chews it up and takes visitors along on the food’s journey through the digestive system that ends in the toilet. It’s an interesting (and sometimes gross!) adventure!
HealthWorks! Kitchen
Sponsorships Available
This fully-functioning kitchen is a creative corner that helps bring healthy meal-time habits to life. Live cooking demonstrations will utilize ingredients from the “Pizza Garden” growing outside the museum to show how easy it can be to make-your- own pizzas packing a more nutritious punch. There will also be educational series on topics ranging from chopping skills to how to prevent cross-contamination when cooking.
Open on Program Days.
Available for birthdays and rentals by reservation.