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BodyWorks
Children’s Museum of Virginia

Education | Museum

How do you teach kids about the human body without asking them to stand still?

For BodyWorks, the answer was to make their own bodies part of the experience. Working with Ravenswood Studio for the Children’s Museum of Virginia, Balance Studios developed interactive technology that responds directly to what kids do, run, jump, grip, hang, and get their hearts pumping.Instead of simply learning about the human body, visitors use their own bodies to discover how it works.The technology stays behind the scenes. Kids simply play. Their physical actions become the input, and the digital experience responds with immediate feedback that helps make an invisible process, what is happening inside their bodies, something they can see and understand.

The Result
BodyWorks transforms learning about the human body into something kids can do.They don't just read about heart rate. They raise it. They don't just learn about strength and endurance. They test their own.By connecting real physical activity with immediate digital feedback, BodyWorks moves kids from spectators to participants, and turns the science of the human body into something personal, playful, and memorable.

Run Time

Run. Watch. Discover.

Kids climb inside a giant hamster-style wheel, grab the handlebars, and start moving. As they walk or run, the system reads their heart rate and displays it on screen in real time. The harder they work, the more they can see how their body responds. It turns a familiar playground challenge into a personal experiment, with the visitor providing both the action and the data.

Beating Heart

Feel the difference movement makes.

First, visitors grip a handlebar to measure their heart rate. Then comes the challenge: complete 20 jumping jacks and check it again.

The interactive displays the updated reading, allowing kids to compare their results and immediately see the effect exercise has on their heart.

No diagram required. Their own heartbeat tells the story.

Hang Time

How long can you hold on?

Hang Time turns strength and endurance into a simple, irresistible challenge. Visitors grab the bar, lift their feet, and the digital timer begins counting. When they let go, their result appears on screen.

It’s quick. Competitive. Repeatable. And exactly the kind of interaction that makes kids want to try one more time.

BodyWorksChildren’s Museum of Virginia

Run Time

Beating Heart

Hang Time

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BodyWorks
Children’s Museum of Virginia