The First Lady continues her campaign to get America's kids moving, and eating healthy.
Last month, Mrs. Obama launched her Let's Move campaign, an ambitious undertaking to form partnerships with schools, grocery stores, (and members of Congress) to help reduce the amount of unhealthy food options in the diets of American children, and to encourage youth to get at least 60 minutes of exercise in an attempt to rid childhood obesity.
In a speech before the National Parent Teacher Association on yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the Apps for Healthy Kids competition. Run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Apps for Healthy Kids competition challenges software developers, game designers, students and other innovators to develop innovative, fun, and engaging tools and games that help kids and their parents to eat better and be more physically active.
It is estimated that America's children spend an average of seven and a half hours a day watching television or playing with computers, video games or other handheld devices. To take advantage of the reach of digital media even as parents strive to reduce total screen time, the Apps for Healthy Kids competition will help make healthy living fun, exciting and relevant for kids by offering prizes for the most creative means of using USDA’s recently released MyPyramid 1,000 food database (available at www.data.gov/details/1294) to teach kids about the importance of good nutrition and health.
“Maybe you’ve seen those dance video games or exercise games that families are playing together at home—or ones kids play using their mobile phones or home computers—those are the kinds of games we’re talking about,” the First Lady said. “We’re challenging software and game designers—professionals and amateurs alike—to come up with games that incorporate nutritional information and make healthy living fun.”
In addition to encouraging the design of kid-friendly apps, a second element of the Challenge will focus on designing creative tools for parents so they can instantly access easy-to-understand nutritional information they can trust when planning meals, at the grocery store, or picking up dinner on the way home from work.
Contestants will compete for $40,000 in cash prizes. The Apps for Healthy Kids challenge is a collaborative initiative of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Official rules may be found at http://www.appsforhealthykids.com/.
Entries must be submitted between March 8, and June 30, 2010.
For more information on the First Lady’s Let’s Move! campaign visit http://www.letsmove.gov/.
Last month, Mrs. Obama launched her Let's Move campaign, an ambitious undertaking to form partnerships with schools, grocery stores, (and members of Congress) to help reduce the amount of unhealthy food options in the diets of American children, and to encourage youth to get at least 60 minutes of exercise in an attempt to rid childhood obesity.
In a speech before the National Parent Teacher Association on yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the Apps for Healthy Kids competition. Run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Apps for Healthy Kids competition challenges software developers, game designers, students and other innovators to develop innovative, fun, and engaging tools and games that help kids and their parents to eat better and be more physically active.
It is estimated that America's children spend an average of seven and a half hours a day watching television or playing with computers, video games or other handheld devices. To take advantage of the reach of digital media even as parents strive to reduce total screen time, the Apps for Healthy Kids competition will help make healthy living fun, exciting and relevant for kids by offering prizes for the most creative means of using USDA’s recently released MyPyramid 1,000 food database (available at www.data.gov/details/1294) to teach kids about the importance of good nutrition and health.
“Maybe you’ve seen those dance video games or exercise games that families are playing together at home—or ones kids play using their mobile phones or home computers—those are the kinds of games we’re talking about,” the First Lady said. “We’re challenging software and game designers—professionals and amateurs alike—to come up with games that incorporate nutritional information and make healthy living fun.”
In addition to encouraging the design of kid-friendly apps, a second element of the Challenge will focus on designing creative tools for parents so they can instantly access easy-to-understand nutritional information they can trust when planning meals, at the grocery store, or picking up dinner on the way home from work.
Contestants will compete for $40,000 in cash prizes. The Apps for Healthy Kids challenge is a collaborative initiative of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Official rules may be found at http://www.appsforhealthykids.com/.
Entries must be submitted between March 8, and June 30, 2010.
For more information on the First Lady’s Let’s Move! campaign visit http://www.letsmove.gov/.
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