A museum may sound like an unlikely place from which to launch a campaign against childhood obesity. But in many ways, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan is the perfect place: “We know kids, but more than that, we know families,” says CMOM president Andy Ackerman. “We bring this combination of cutting-edge science delivered through the arts.”

Earlier this year, The National Institutes of Health (NIH)—the nation’s primary agency for supporting medical research—partnered with CMOM to create and test an antiobesity curriculum for young children.

Drawing on its two decades of work with families, CMOM is working to adapt the NIH’s We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition!) program for kids ages 8-13 for early childhood audiences, and pilot test the curriculum in the Bronx and New Orleans. Next summer, the museum will open a new exhibit based on the We Can! program.

New York Family recently spoke with Ackerman, along with Eduardo Quezada, one of CMOM’s Bronx health educators, to find out more about the initiative.

Tell me about CMOM’s work combating childhood obesity and encouraging healthy lifestyles.

Andy: For a long time we’ve been doing early childhood work with families. Around 1998-1999, we noticed that too many of the children coming into the museum seemed overweight, and this was before childhood obesity was showing up on the radar screen as a national crisis. So in 2000, we opened an exhibit called “Body Odyssey,” which was about taking control of who you are to address those issues. Over the last 10 years, we’ve continued to work in health, early childhood education and the arts. Recently, people in the medical community have begun looking for programs and approaches to stemming the obesity tide that are both scientifically accurate and effective. So we began to work with the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. They have approved us to, with their cooperation, develop and test the first anti-obesity curriculum for families with young children.

What are the different components of the anti-obesity initiative?

Andy: We have the health program in the Bronx (and we’ll do another pilot there and also one in New Orleans), and the free programs we do here at the museum. Around June 2011, we’ll open a new exhibit about health. This is a long-term initiative. We’ll publish the curriculum and the exhibit will be replicated nationally. The NIH will receive the research from the health program and it has the potential to impact public policy.

Can you give an example of one of your free health programs?

Andy: One of our workshops is about portion control. We pop three bags of popcorn and we put one bag in a large bowl, one bag in a mediumsized bowl, and one bag in a small bowl. We ask the kids which one has the most popcorn. They always say it’s the one that looks full—the small one. So the message to the parents is, “Put your popcorn in a smaller bowl.”

Tell me about the health exhibit slated to open in June 2011.

Andy: It’s going to be a totally immersive experience, exploring what happens inside your brain when you make decisions, learning to navigate through all the external stimuli around us that try to seduce us to eat bad things. It will have people laughing and learning at the same time.

Eduardo, can you tell me about the Bronx health program?

Eduardo: It’s a program for both kids and parents at three different community centers in the Bronx. We combine the health message with what CMOM is famous for—the singing, the art activities—and we bring a healthy snack. We give out handouts with tips on how to implement what we’ve learned, including recipes and songs they can sing.

Tell me about some of CMOM’s other off-site programs.

Eduardo: I go to the Bronx three times a week and I visit Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and bring art and literacy to the kids. We have a weekly shelter program for homeless families and kids. The moms can speak with a social worker and we do art activities, circle time. We visit libraries in the city, in the Bronx and Brooklyn. We bring the museum to the community.

Andy: Each year we operate in 45 to 50 different sites throughout the city. We bring programs to where the need is and find the financial support to make them free.

Andy, this year you’re celebrating 20 years of being at CMOM’s helm. Looking back over your career here, what are you most proud of?

Andy: When we have responded to kids in crisis. We did it after 9/11. We did it in New Orleans. We do it at the hospital with kids with cancer. We do it in the Bronx in communities living in poverty. And here at the museum, within these four walls, we’re creating a place that’s a safe haven, not only physically, but emotionally, psychologically, educationally, where kids can find their own way.