Developers Are Working On an App That Gets Kids to Eat Their Vegetables

For years, parents have struggled to get their children to willingly consume healthy foods. And the struggle is only getting worse—today’s tech-savvy kids are too sophisticated for old school techniques like “Here comes the airplane.”

That’s where the Argentinian firm Wunderman comes in. According to Wired, they’ve created Yumit, a blue-tooth connected dinner plate that monitors how much a child eats, then converts that information into digital “points." Once the meal is over, kids can use their accumulated points in a range of mobile games. It’s a neat teaching tool—the app not only provides an incentive for kids to eat their vegetables, but also illustrates the importance of healthy eating by converting each bite of food into virtual energy. The plate itself also lights up as kids eat more of their food, serving as a visual progress report. 

The app is still in development while Wunderman works on the games to accompany their Yumit plate. (They plan to seek more funding for the concept.) But impatient parents shouldn't worry—the Wunderman team understands your plight, and is working hard to get their product out to the public as soon as possible. They hope to benefit too: creative technologist Rodrigo Gorosterrazu came up with the idea for Yumit in response to his own daughter's refusal to eat the food he'd made for her.