Kids’ cooking app encourages healthy eating

The Meal Monsters educational app, which teaches children about healthy eating and cooking, is looking for funding to expand its operation.

Already available on the App Store, The Meal Monsters is an interactive app aimed at educating very young children in healthy eating and cooking. It’s been around since January with just one recipe, and its co-founders Mary-Kei Macfarlane and Elisa Galbraith have just launched a kickstarter campaign hoping to expand the brand and develop the app.

Rather than just being a series of recipes, the company is hoping the app will have stories and games for kids to play. It’s been designed so small children can interact with its simple UI themselves and follow the adventures of Sal, Gore and Pom who live on Planet Yum, love to grow veggies and sometimes fly to Earth on radish rockets. Think Teletubbies meets Saturday Kitchen.

The company is hoping to raise GBP 25,000 by June 7 (at the time of writing they’ve made just over 10 percent of that). Its plan is to spend the money on getting five more recipes illustrated and coded, plus to help with marketing and PR costs. If more money is raised it’ll start work on the first game, and a range of merchandise has already been designed including colouring books and lunchboxes.

Other initiatives that have encouraged kids to learn more about cooking and healthy eating include the Charlie Cart Project (a tiny portable kitchen with everything needed to teach a child cooking), and the Tuckrbox, which delivers healthy lunchboxes designed by kids. What other ways can we engage with children to encourage healthy eating and lifestyles?