Food and Moves
An App Suite for Preschoolers and their Caregivers
Children explore fun adventures to support their development of eating behaviors and movement skills. The four apps in the suite reflect the latest in research on how to help young children move more and eat healthy foods.
The Foods & Moves app suite was created as part of the HEROs Study (HEalthy EnviROnments Study), which investigated ways to impact young children’s health behaviors by encouraging preschoolers’ willingness to try new foods and motor skill performance in family settings.
The HEROs Study was led by Dr. Laura Bellows, Associate Professor, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University (formerly Colorado State University).
Research related to Foods & Moves
The research team from Colorado State University, the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, New Mexico State University and Cornell University has published widely about the research behind the Foods & Moves apps.
Jungle Gym 1
Come and see what lives in the jungle with your two friends! When children move along with this interactive app, they perform specific movements demonstrated by the characters to build specific gross motor skills. Jungle Gym gives kids language to describe different movement patterns while allowing them to master the basics to progress to more advanced movements.
Jungle Gym 2
Ready to start an exciting adventure? Come join our two friends as they go exploring. Children perform fun movements, demonstrated by the characters, to overcome roadblocks and accomplish adventures.
The interactive educates children on more advanced movement-based vocabulary while offering them the opportunity to practice new and familiar movements.
Tasting Party Express
Getting kids and monsters to try new foods can be tricky... Tasting Party Express puts your child in charge! Players feed various foods to different characters, placing the new food items on their plates and seeing their reactions.
This app is designed to teach children specific food tasting vocabulary and excite them to try new foods themselves.
Spin-n-Move
Spin the wheel to select from four sets of themed activities (Moving like Food, Moving like Animals, Playing at the Park, or Going on a Picnic).
Each wheel includes various physical movements that the player randomly selects by pulling the lever. Wiggle like spaghetti, jump like a frog, swing a baseball bat... how will the app ask YOU to move?