SAN ANTONIO – Ask any parent and they will tell you, some kids just don’t like to eat their vegetables.
But the Witte Museum is hoping a new interactive exhibit will help get kids moving and teach them the basics to keep them healthy and help them avoid childhood obesity.
"It's really a safe haven to encourage the community to find out and explore that physical activity, healthy eating and rest and relaxation are fun," Bryan Bayles, the curator of anthropology and health, said.
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As curator, Bayles said the H-E-B Body Adventure powered by University Health System is not a prescriptive approach but about learning how the body works at a young age.
"Little small changes you make on a daily basis can make a big difference in your health in the long run," he said.
There’s a fitness, wellness and serenity floor. These are simple informative activities that are already sticking with some of the children.
"If you don't eat a lot of vegetables, you can get sick," 8-year-old Sofia Vivancio said.
Parents are also on board.
"We are always on the go and we are always busy and we are looking for ways to eat quickly and we go to fast food restaurants and it just starts to become a habit," Janet Zuniga said.
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The exhibit isn’t just about helping kids -- it's also a tool to get information.
It also shows them nutrition trends around San Antonio and it starts with the Power Pass kiosk.
It is one of the most important parts of the exhibit. The kiosk asks kids what they eat and if they exercise and if they even have space to do so. So far, more than 150,000 grade-school children have filled out the anonymous survey.
"We can collect very important date on the community at the local level, even the ZIP code level," Bayles said. "No other city in the nation is doing this at this level. This kind of data at this local level it is very, very rare and we are hoping it will become a model for other communities."
Data will be collected over the next three years and analyzed to look for trends in specific areas.