Developing educational game for pre-school children to improve dietary choices
Abstract
Nutrition-related problems in children, such as obesity, unbalanced diet, and high intake of junk food, have been an area of extensive focus among parents, child nutrition experts, and teachers on early childhood education. To ensure that they grow properly and form healthy eating habits, children need direction and encouragement to maintain a healthy diet and level of physical exercise. Serious video games have been found to improve children's eating knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors; however, there is no study on the effectiveness of these games with younger kids (8–10 years old). A multidisciplinary research design was used to developed the game following an iterative methodology based on a user-centered design. A total of 50 participants were allowed to test out the game. The findings of this study demonstrated that using computer games to teach preschoolers about nutrition might significantly increase their understanding of that subject. The parents of the participants concurred that the game had a favorable impact on their kids' views towards a number of healthy eating practices. These results support that a health game such as Nutri Game is a viable tool to help children aged between 8 and 10 years old to increase their food knowledge and improve their dietary behaviors.
How to Cite This Article
Vidhyashree B, Kavya Jyothi H (2023). Developing educational game for pre-school children to improve dietary choices . International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Growth Evaluation (IJMRGE), 4(3), 703-709.