| Kids Play their Way to Healthy Habits with the NoteNiks Healthy Eating CD |
By: Heather Leitch, Entertainment Columnist
On 2/18/06
Do you ever get the feeling that when you talk to your kids about fruits and vegetables they inwardly cringe or tune you out? The word exercise alone can make kids feel tired. Making the subject of eating right and exercising interesting and engaging for your children is a constant battle.
Rating:
4 of 5 ice cream cones! |
I appreciate having my kids hear about their health from other people and venues. The NoteNiks Healthy Eating and Exercise CD is one such venue. The CD Rom is composed of eight games: Pick Your Fruits and Veggies; Let’s Go Bananas!; Fruit Hunt; Fruit Volcano; Puzzle Place; Shadow Matcher; NoteNiks Market; Activity Alley.
The games, targeted for children aged three to eight, are designed to teach kids the benefits of eating well and exercising. They also build hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
The usability level is very appropriate for young children. The first screen you see after opening the program has bubbles with pictures of eight kids. There is also a signpost with a Games sign, and a prompt to click to start. Clicking on this brings you right to the first game: Pick Your Fruits and Veggies. You can also access the different games by scrolling over the pictures of the kids.
My only minor complaint with the CD is that this is not spelled out in the instructions. You don’t know that you can access the different games until you discover it yourself. This discovery is made, though.
The games are engrossing as well. I had my testing panel of six- to eight-year-olds try out the games and it was hard to tear them away. The healthy eating games reinforce what is junk food and what is healthy food. Games such as NoteNiks Market, in which kids click on pictures of healthy food, then try to catch a floating basket to put the food in, reinforce that fruits, veggies, and whole grains are healthy and donuts aren’t healthy.
The Fruit Volcano is another game that employs the cascading/floating concept, with fruits, vegetables, and various treat or junk foods falling down the screen. The players catch only the fruits and vegetables in a basket, but avoid the ice cream cones and pizza. This help build hand-eye coordination and motor skills while it helps kids distinguish healthy foods from less-healthy foods.
The exercise games offer diverse and interesting ways to get exercise: gardening, wave jumping, skateboarding, playing Frisbee, bicycling, walking. This is a good message for all of us, and it is particularly helpful if your children are not inclined towards team sports. The CD reinforces that playing sports is not the only way to exercise, and that there are many everyday activities that count towards exercise.
Other types of games, such as Puzzle Place and Shadow Matcher have kids identify shapes and match them to a shadow. These build concentration skills and hand-eye coordination. It also offers variety.
Discussion topics: We had many discussions about healthy food and exercise during and after the game. It’s particularly helpful with my kids to have them looking away from me and focusing elsewhere while we’re talking. Generally, the voice-over on the game reinforces what many parents are already saying: eat your fruits and vegetables and get out and play, but it does so in a positive way, reinforcing what kids in many cases are already doing. (“Walking your dog for 15 minutes a day is good exercise for you and the dog”; “Fruits and vegetables come in all colors. Have you eaten all the colors?”; “Bananas are rich in potassium. You need potassium in your diet to help your heart beat strong.” “Skateboarding is cool! Once you learn how to balance, you can do really fun tricks… but always remember to wear a helmet”)
Most kids eat some fruits, play tag with their friends, walk the dog, help in the garden, and/or ride their bikes frequently. It makes eating right and exercising less daunting if you’re already part of the way there.
Worth the price: Yes. At $30.00, the price is comparable to other educational software. The CD works on both Macs and PCs (I tried this out). It’s easy to install and the games are informative and kid-friendly.
Rating:
4 of 5 ice cream cones! |
Profanity: None.
Sexual Content: None.
Violence: None.
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