LiveSmart: Journey Through the Body — April 8 & 9 at Crossgates Mall

Where can kids walk through a giant ear, see how smoking damages lungs, and learn how what they eat and how they move impacts their health? Where else but at the area’s largest and most popular kid’s health education exhibit – Journey Through The Body^© – A Hands-on Discovery Adventure.

St. Peter’s will host its 17th annual Journey Through The Body^© on Friday, April 8, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Crossgates Mall. The event is co-sponsored by WNYT-TV NewsChannel 13. WNYT Meteorologist Bob Kovachick and Anchor/Health Reporter Benita Zahn will be doing a live broadcast from the event on Friday, beginning at 5 p.m.

This FREE, two-day family community health educational event is designed to educate children and their parents about select parts of the human body and to learn about their functions, components, strengths and limitations, and ways to lead an active healthy lifestyle.

At Journey Through The Body^©, kids can explore larger-than-life-sized models of the heart, brain, lungs, ear, teeth and more. Kids can walk through a giant, inflatable model of the brain and check out the inflatable heart, getting an up-close and personal look at how these important organs work.

Boasting what is likely the Capital Region’s largest ear, Journey Through The Body^© features a dramatic model that is nine feet tall, eight feet wide and 19 feet long. Pulsating lights show how sound moves through the ear and the dangers of exposure to loud noises or music. The model, like all exhibits at Journey Through The Body^©, is handicapped-accessible.

Also returning is The Big Colon – a 10-foot-long model that kids can walk into. Similarly, kids can slide down a larger-than-life model of a human leg, and see and touch real hearts and lungs to explore how they work.

The issue of childhood obesity is addressed at exhibits that promote proper nutrition, exercise, and food preparation and handling. Kids will have the opportunity to go “food shopping,” where they can select items to fill in the appropriate recommended food groups in the USDA’s “My Plate.” Kids will also be encouraged to visit the “Danger House,” where they will identify common dangers in the home, talk to experts about the dangers, and get advice on what to do should they encounter them in their own homes.

An exhibit on careers in health care provides information for adults and children alike. And both young and old can benefit from a visit to the “Growing Older” exhibit, which looks at how the body ages, provides insight into how the older people in children’s lives experience the world, and looks at how they can best stay healthy and safe.

For more information on Journey Through The Body, visit www.sphp/jttb