Bronx Children’s Museum event encourage local families to lead healthy, active lifestyles

Attendees cheer as the ribbon is cut for the newly marked Montefiore Einstein Mile in Bronx Children's Museum.
Attendees cheer as the ribbon is cut for the newly marked Montefiore Einstein Mile in Bronx Children’s Museum.
Photo courtesy Montefiore Einstein

The Bronx Children’s Museum hosted a special Family Day on July 17 with a theme of “Prescription to Play.”  The event, which was free and open to Montefiore Einstein associates and their families, emphasized the importance of healthy, active lifestyles through play and community engagement.

Family Day aimed to highlight the health benefits of play including stress relief, mental stimulation, and improved social skills, as well as play’s vital role in fostering wellness and nurturing community connections through interactive experiences. By creating an environment where children and their caregivers can interact through fun and educational activities, the Bronx Children’s Museum fosters stronger family connections and encourages a healthy, active lifestyle.

“[The Bronx Children’s Museum and Montefiore Einstein] have shared values in terms of creating healthy futures for children and families, and we both value the importance of play and connection with families, between families,” said Bronx Children’s Museum Executive Director Denise Rosario Adusei. “What we do here at the museum is we bring families together to connect, to learn, to play.”

The Family Day event marked the inaugural “Walk with M.E. (Montefiore Einstein)” Parade, led by Montefiore Einstein associates. This parade is set to become a cherished tradition at the museum. Moving forward, each day will conclude with the “Walk with M.E.” parade, where children will march around the museum playing maracas, drums, shakers and other instruments.

The daily parade aims to foster community spirit, encourage active participation, and provide a finale to the museum experience for children and their families. The parade’s debut during Family Day set the stage for the interactive closure to become a hallmark of every visit to the Bronx Children’s Museum.

Children enjoyed activities throughout the event including an “Animal Encounter” with Museum Program Coordinator Lexi Rogers. Photo courtesy Montefiore Einstein.

The Bronx Children’s Museum opened its doors to a permanent space in Mills Pond Park in 2022 after operating for more than 10 years without a building. Adusei said the museum and Montefiore Einstein have had a relationship with each other for about a decade, having shared resources and programming for years. 

“We wanted to honor [Montefiore] for being part of our museum before we even opened the doors. And so when we were talking about it, they took all the little steps with us when we were looking to open the museum, and those little steps led to big strides and big achievements,” Adusei said. “The parade is something we do at the end of the day with all our families to say goodbye. We say goodbye to every part of the museum, goodbye waterways, goodbye book bodega and so it’s, it makes sense that it’s really symbolic of them being on that journey with us since very early on.”

The Family Day event featured the unveiling of the Montefiore Einstein Mile “Montefiore Mile” within the museum, a pathway denoted by markers to encourage movement and play, emphasizing that wellness is about both physical activity and mental engagement. By integrating physical exercise into a family-friendly setting, the Montefiore Mile offers an interactive way for visitors to prioritize their health during museum visits.

“The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Einstein is proud to partner with The Bronx Children’s Museum in encouraging movement and health through play as part of more than 130-year commitment to this community,” Michael D. Cabana, MD, MPH, The Michael I. Cohen, M.D., University Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Physician-in-Chief, The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore said . “Events like ‘Prescription to Play’ Family Day demonstrate our dedication to fostering wellness beyond the bedside. By engaging families in fun, educational settings, we’re helping to nurture the physical, social, and emotional well-being for a healthier Bronx.”  

Adusei said she’s looking forward to offering more events at the Bronx Children’s Museum and expanding access to Bronx families. In June, the museum unveiled “The Book Bodega,” the first-ever dedicated children’s bookshop in the Bronx. In partnership with Montefiore Einstein, the Bronx Children’s Museum is planning to “bring the museum” to children unable to leave the hospital at Montefiore. 

“We want to answer the needs in the Bronx and our museum, we say, it’s a mirror of our community. It reflects the things that we need and also reflects the community that we’re in,” Adusei said. “We’ll be working a lot to expand access.”


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