Newswise — NEW YORK– April 30, 2012 – A new joint effort by health marketing and gaming specialists may help families get into the habit of cooking and eating together. ZisBoomBah, a Let's Move! award-winning game developer and leader in making food fun for families, is working with non-profit public health initiative The Kids Cook Monday to integrate weekly cooking prompts into their already popular gaming platform.
ZisBoomBah has incorporated Kids Cook Monday quests into their “Challenger Calendar", a free online score-based game that lets children and parents set health and nutrition goals. After signing up for a free account at http://www.zisboombah.com/parent_dashboard, parents and children will be able to accept fun Kids Cook Monday quests, which will encourage them to start the week by cooking and sharing a healthful meal with their family. In addition, Kids Cook Monday recipes -- like this week's Black Bean Mango Quinoa- are now available via ZisBoomBah's “Flip It” game. In “Flip It”, children flip virtual cards to learn about new fruits and vegetables. As kids become more interested in these new, healthy ingredients, their parents will receive Kids Cook Monday recipe suggestions using those new foods. The recipes include child-friendly steps, additional information about the ingredients and the ability for parents and children to rate and share the dish with others.
“Studies have shown that frequent, periodic health messages which tap into the rhythm of the week can be effective and that Monday is a key day in starting and sustaining behavior change,” says Peggy Neu, president of The Monday Campaigns. “We're thrilled to be working with ZisBoomBah on an initiative that couples this insight with fun, interactive messages. When kids are excited about family dinner, everybody wins.”
Consistent prompts to actively engage in family dinners can have a host of positive effects. Experts agree that cooking and eating with your family can help combat the rise of childhood obesity, which has tripled in the last 30 years. A 2010 study in Pediatrics found that children who regularly ate dinner with their family were less likely to be obese. According to The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, frequent family dinners can also reduce a child's likelihood of trying drugs and alcohol. In addition, children who help in the kitchen build critical life skills, learn the connection between whole ingredients and the meal on their plate and more likely to try new and nutritious foods.
The educational games on ZisBoomBah.com and family meal guides on TheKidsCookMonday.org are available for free. Both organizations also offer tips and pictures on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
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The Kids’ Cook Monday campaign encourages families to begin each week cooking and eating together. TheKidsCookMonday.org offers weekly family friendly recipes, tips and tools for families to make cooking together the first priority of the first night of every week. The Kids Cook Monday is a project of The Monday Campaigns Inc, a non-profit public health organization founded in 2005 in association with Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Like The Kids Cook Monday on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KidsCookMonday?ref=tsFollow The Kids Cook Monday on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/kidscookmondaySee The Kids Cook Monday on Pinterest: http://http://pinterest.com/healthymonday/kids-cook-monday/
ZisBoomBah, a free interactive foodie tool for kids and parents, is a quick, fun and actionable way to get families excited about healthy eating. Our kid-friendly growing community offers social networking around healthy kid and family lifestyle issues. Kids are the drivers. We empower kids to create their own healthy meals and engage their parents in healthy lifestyle changes. Parents motivated to make a change will find everything they need at ZisBoomBah, from a supportive community to expert advice that addresses a family's specific needs.
Like Zis Boom Bah on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ZisBoomBah?ref=pbFollow Zis Boom Bah on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/zisboombahSee Zis Boom Bah on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/source/zisboombah.com/
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