Creating a product that gets young children excited about healthy food, to help address the growing issue of childhood obesity in the UK.

Following the success of our first project, Teach Your Monster to Read, we decided to investigate the increasingly widespread issue of childhood obesity in the UK. The UK is now the second most obese country in Europe, with 1 in 3 children leaving school either overweight or obese. Obesity is a huge drain to the NHS, but less reported is the impact it has on attention, energy levels and as a result, learning.

Using our research-led approach, we’ve found out as much as we can about this issue and all the initiatives already working hard to make a difference. Along the way we’ve learnt a great deal, speaking to amazing people who are already leading impactful initiatives. What we’ve noticed, however, is the real lack of scalable and sustainable solutions directed at preventing childhood obesity in the first instance.

With this in mind, we’ve been working with experts in child behaviour, nutrition and education to design a product that engages young children to get excited about real food. We believe that this combination of curiosity, coupled with our signature approach using playfulness, technology and storytelling, will encourage children to be more open to trying new foods, and as a result have a more balanced diet. Our aim isn’t to solve the problem single-handedly, but to contribute to the ecosystem of amazing products and services already out there. We hope to be the product that provides the foundation for all the others to be more effective.
 

If you’re also working in this field or would like to help the project, please get in touch.
Find out more about our research and design process on our blog.