High-tech Kids Lead Healthy Learning- with free tech tools

Healthy eating meets the gaming world. The British Columbia Dairy Foundation (BCDF) along with Registered Dietitians have launched a new video game to teach students in grades six to eight about Canada’s Food Guide and how to make healthy meal choices.


Titanium Chef is an interactive, web-based role playing game (http://www.titaniumchef.ca/) that teaches students how to classify foods into the four foods groups and determine appropriate serving sizes. What's cool is that it works seamlessly with the FootPOWR - a computer peripheral that adds activity to "mouse" input.
“The idea for Titanium Chef came from research and our own observations that show students today respond positively to interactive learning,” said Kenton Delisle, a lead nutrition educator with BCDF, in a release.

Another free online site that provides a whole quiver of fun and educational "healthy food choices" games is Playnormous.  (http://www.footgaming.com/.docs/pg/10777 ) The entire family will enjoy the great game play - and everyone is sure to discover something new. Send your students home with these links to extend the healthy learning into leisure time.

Our digital kids can help create health and fitness resources on their own - and add valuable resources to your curriculum. You don't need to understand how to use the technology first. Let your students lead and mentor you. And yes - all these tools are online and FREE!
• Scratch - (http://scratch.mit.edu/) an easy to learn programming language for ages 8 and up. Programming is simply one of the best learning experiences for students. It builds logic, higher order thinking skills, and really, it's just plain fun! When the games have a health or fitness theme everyone wins.
• Prezi - (http://prezi.com/) tired of boring old one-slide-at-a-time slideshows? Try zooming instead. If some of your students have "done PowerPoint" - let them try Prezi. It might make you dizzy, but the kids should pick it up pretty quickly
• Zamar - (http://www.zamzar.com/) easy online file conversion. Not only does Zamzar convert document and graphic file formats, but also movie formats. It even can save YouTube and other online movies to files for use at a later date.

Let us see what your students create. Send us the link or share your story in the comments section