A Healthy Way to Kill Time

I love pulling out of the driveway headed for a long road trip – there’s such a lovely illusion of abandoning all my work and worries for the duration of the drive (in the case of our Thanksgiving trip, 14 hours). But I’m just as over-connected as the next mom, and I usually wind up checking my e-mails in the car. Or searching out apps for my Droid, something I never have time for in day-to-day life. I could easily have spent all 14 hours this way. Unfortunately, Nebraska is not particularly well supplied with 3G networks!

Before I lost coverage, I made a find that will come in handy when my kids are killing time back in St. Louis. Apps for Healthy Kids showcases winning entries in a U.S. Department of Agriculture contest to develop tools and games that teach kids about healthy eating and/or exercising.

Many of them are only for iPhones, so I couldn’t test those out, but they all have links to the authors’ own sites with sample versions that can be played with a browser. (For example, Michelle B. of St. Louis created Fitropolis, where players catch low-fat, low-calorie or low-sugar foods in a bowl.)

Considering that up until now my kids’ favorite apps on my phone are Brickbreaker and a version of memory where the category choices are ice cream, candy, and cookies, these are a refreshing change of pace.

By Amy De La Hunt, Health Blogger for SmartParenting