There’s an app for everything. No, really. There is an app for E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!
Just when I thought I was done exploring some of the coolest apps there are for kids (the wisdom’s enshrined in the previous blog), I found a treasure chest of yet cooler apps. This time around, it’s apps to monitor food and nutrition for kids, can you believe it? These apps not only monitor food habits but educate children about nutrition whilst encouraging them to make healthy food choices. What’s more? These apps need zero parental intervention. You can (safely) leave your kids with them and expect nothing less than a savant coming out the other side!
Here are the top 5, most amazing nutrition and food apps for kids today:
1) Awesome Eats
This healthy-eating app pulls fun straight from the garden, teaching kids about the benefits of a colorful diet of fruits and vegetables, including recycling tips at the conclusion of each ‘meal’. However your kids don’t have to pack a penchant for gardening to have a blast while tapping away on this app. With over 60 progressively challenging levels, 70 plus characters and hoards of garden-thieving birds to shoo away, your kids will be enthralled while learning all about nutrition.
2) Nicholas’ Garden
This app takes nutrition one step further by not only teaching kids about basic nutrition, but also about cooking processes and shopping. A big part of navigating the world we live in while making healthy choices involves consumerism. This application lightly touches on the concept in an engaging manner so that children can make healthier, more informed choices themselves about food everyday. Beware, your kid will keep an eye on you when putting items in the shopping cart at the grocery store after a few games on Nicholas’ Garden.
3) Fooducate
Kids get started with mobile apps because they see us as grown-ups doing it. They don’t always need the colorful bells and whistles to get engaged, preferring to feel more grown-up themselves when using an app. This is where Fooducate comes in. This app was designed for a more advanced audience but many older (6+) children enjoy using it because of the QR code scanning technology. Put your child in charge on your next visit to the grocery store by having them scan the barcodes of labelled food items. The app delivers a truer accounting of the nutritional breakdown of the goods, including healthier alternative recommendations. Your kids will absolutely feel empowered when armed with the Fooducate app.
4) Gro Garden
Gro Garden creates an online atmosphere where kids can learn all about sustainable farming and gardening in a very entertaining manner. Players feed Connie the Compost, the star of the show, and her mico-organism buddies. After feeding, kids get to witness Connie and company produce fruitful soil which allows bountiful crops to grow faster, more nutritious, and tastier. The seed-to-table concept is at play as kids get to treat animals residing within the Gro Garden cottage with a nutritious meal of organic vegetables. Children are rewarded for their efforts as they progress through the game with virtual goodies and badges, instilling a strong sense of pride in their efforts.
5) Eat-And-Move-O-Matic
If you want your kids to understand the consequences of their food choices, Eat-And-Move-O-Matic is the right app for them. Created by the Learning Game Lab at New Mexico State University, the app teaches kids to be aware of what they eat or drink. It lets them compare the calories in their food choices with the type and length of time of physical activities like biking, running, or walking needed to burn off those calories.
Now that you will leave your kids with these apps, get ready to have them nudge you every time you pick up an unhealthy snack at the grocer’s or use unhealthy ingredients in home meals. Funny to have the tables turn right?
Well, for me, I’m not yet done exploring the best and most mind-blowing apps for kids that there are. Stay tuned for another curation of top apps for kids.
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