The award-winning children’s museum Eureka! will launch a groundbreaking new mobile exhibition on 24 January as part of its regional campaign to find new ways to engage children in physical activity and encourage them to make healthier lifestyle choices.

Housed inside a giant customised lorry, Mission: Active Future will provide children aged 5-12 with a unique interactive experience, helping them understand the importance of good health and regular exercise through a series of innovative multimedia exhibits and activity-based challenges.

Sport England Yorkshire and the Big Lottery Fund have provided lead funding for Mission: Active Future through the Active England programme and describe the exhibition as “their most innovative and creative project in the region”.

Sport England Regional Director David Gent will be a guest speaker at Mission: Active Future’s launch. He comments: “I am confident that Eureka!’s imaginative approach to engaging people in sport and exercise will help communities across our region take their first steps to becoming healthier and fitter”.

Mission: Active Future invites children to join the ‘Active8’, children of the future, on a mission to help ‘re-energise’ the people of Earth by carrying out a series of physical activities and making the right lifestyle decisions. During the hour-long workshop children can put their speed, stamina and precision to the test, learn about their body and how to keep it top condition and discover skills which can get them involved in new sports and other physical activities.

Additional funding for Mission: Active Future was received from The Peter Harrison Foundation, Northgate plc and West Yorkshire Grants.

Eureka! Director Leigh-Anne Stradeski comments: “Mission: Active Future has provided Eureka! with a fantastic opportunity to use our expertise to help children and families throughout the region better understand how to lead a healthier lifestyle.

“The exhibition itself demonstrates our ongoing commitment to creating quality informal learning opportunities for all children. We are also providing a complete wraparound experience, with pre and post visit resources including a wallchart and log book for children to take home and record their levels of physical activity, and links with local agencies which can help encourage them to try news sports and activities in the future.“

Mission Active Future will be open to schools and members of the public visiting Eureka! until 28 May 2006 before beginning a tour of schools and community venues in Yorkshire and Humber. For more information about tour dates or visiting Mission: Active Future at Eureka! please call 01422 330069

For more information please contact Michelle Buckingham or Gracie Rogers on 01422 330069 or email press.office@eureka.org.uk