As more and more children face health struggles, related to poor diets and lack of exercise, it is im-portant that we reach out about nutrition, in as many ways as we can. There has been a huge surge in the number of apps on the market that engage children and families who are struggling with their diets. Here is a rundown of the top apps, to support kids in making the right choices when it comes to nutrition.

Healthy Heroes (Age: 3+)

Healthy Heroes is a fun free app for pre-schoolers, in which they join a group of furry friends on a journey to a healthier lifestyle. Kids gain gold coins for making the best nutritional choices and avoiding junk food. They will learn what foods to avoid and the impacts of eating too much junk food. I think that this app is especially good for children who are used to making healthy food, but who could be influenced as they meet children who may not have had the same nutritional guid-ance.

Awesome Eats (3+)

The Awesome Eats app features a total of 64 levels, all of which involve sorting and planting seeds and sorting food, in accordance to what food is in season and its nutritional value. The app also teaches children the importance of recycling and sustainability, making it great for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children.

Easy Eater 2 (4+)

Can’t get your children to eat their veggies? Struggling to find new meals for your family to try? Look no further than Easy Eater 2, a fun nutritional app that has been endorsed by none other than Michelle Obama. This app gets the whole family involved, with each member creating their own pet, whom they must look after, feed and exercise. If good nutritional choices are made, you will be rewarded with ‘grub bucks’, which can be used to buy treats for your pets. Parents who have tried the app have commented on how good it is for picky eaters, with their children eating the food that they have given to their online pets.

Nicola’s Garden (8+)

This is an awesome app designed by an 8 year old child, who wanted to help her friends lead a healthy lifestyle and is now helping children all over the world. The app is packed full of nutritional information and family friendly recipes, that parents will love as much as the kids. I love how inter-active this app is, with an ability to take pictures of your completed meals that can then be uploaded and shared with friends. Nicola’s Garden would be a great app for schools to use, to encourage children to cook at home, then share their successes with the rest of the class.

ABC Food (6+)

ABC is an award-winning app that is great for elementary aged children. The app is a collection of pictures and sound quizzes that introduce children to different types of healthy food. The app en-courages children to participate in making food offline, with guides on how to chop various vegeta-bles and prepare dinner, with the support of mom and dad. Above all, I like how this app encour-ages children to make their own choices, rather than being told something is good for you so it needs to be eaten.

Fooducate (13+)

This app is aimed at middle schoolers and high schoolers, who may have developed a poor lifestyle and are looking to make changes to improve their health. The app can be used at the grocery store, to scan barcodes to see the nutritional information and will offer alternative snack choices, if the red warning signs pop up. The app can be personalized, with a desired calorie intake calculator and the option to take note any exercise, to encourage a more active lifestyle. I like this app as it sends out the message that there are no bad foods, just some foods that should be eaten in moderation.

Smash Your Food (6+)

While it is important to educate children about good nutrition, it is important that food is not taken too seriously, so as not to encourage children to have hang-ups about food. Smash your food is a typi-cal phone friendly computer game, in which kids are invited to smash up all the food that is not so good for us, in order to preserve the food that is great for our bodies. Kids will love the game aspect of this app, but will subtly learn about good nutrition along the way.

If you have a picky eater on your hand or want to educate your children about nutrition, I think you will love these apps. For those who do not have access to apps, there are cool games on the Veg-gieTales website to help children learn about healthy eating.If you have a tech savvy kid and have already tried any of these apps, we would love to hear your feedback.

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