AD – Fitoons is an App, available from the Apple Store and aims for kids to have fun and but also learn about healthy habits and lifestyle. Playing Fitoons is thought to educate children about different foods, having a balanced diet and also inspiring them to keep active everyday.
The Fitoons App has been designed by Avokiddo, which is an award winning kids app development studio.
My gremlin loves anything on the tablet or phone and I knew she would be an ideal candidate to test out this app. As a dietitian, I also take a strong interest in any educational tool for children, that will help them learn about diet and healthy eating.
The app is available TODAY from the Apple Store and retails at £3.99.
More About the Fitoons App
Fitoons is aimed at children aged 4 years and over and once downloaded, does not actually need internet connection. It also does not have any in-app purchases, so no sneaky bills from your kids.
There are no 3rd party ads involved and it is GDPR compliant for peace of mind.
Avokiddo developed Fitoons as they felt a strong responsibility to inspire a healthier lifestyle for kids all over the world. Obesity is on the rise and healthier children can help to equal healthier adults. Fitoons wants kids to experiment with foods, learn how they affect the body and to promote eating healthy food like fruit and vegetables. The app also wants to show how exercise can be fun and that there are so many different ways to keep fit.
Fitoons also has a strictly vegan option in the settings for those who follow this diet.
More About Playing Fitoons
Fitoons is pretty straight forward to get started and play.
You start by choosing a character from the right-side menu and can dress them up in some really stylish gym outfits, such as tees, hoodies and shorts. You can change the character’s skin tones by tapping on them. You also start with two characters and can unlock 4 more, as you complete workouts and exercises.
The app has 20 different sports and exercises to master and as you complete them, you unlock the next. Each game gives you the chance to win one, two or three stars, depending on how well you do. As you progress you can unlock new foods for the fridge or a new character!
The app aims to promote good eating habits and after being active, it is time to fuel your body with some healthy food. Your child can cook what they like for their character and you can see how the different foods and amounts of foods, affect their character’s bodies.
Your child can scroll through the fridge and choose different foods and chop, cook, fry, bake and blend them for the character.
There is a total variety of foods to choose, as the app wants to teach children all food is fine in moderation and as part of a healthy diet.
If you feed your character a lot of food or a lot of unhealthy ones, you can see them get larger and the scale on the bottom left corner goes from green to red.
Our Thoughts on Fitoons
I explained what the app was about and sat down with my eldest daughter one Saturday morning to see what we thought.
My youngest came and had a nosey too, when she was back from town.
My grem loves games where she can dress characters and personalise their clothes and features, so straight away she was on this, changing her character ready to play. She chose a girl with pink hair and picked out her workout clothes.
I then explained to her there were lots of foods for her to try in the kitchen and we could let her character taste different foods. I let her know that some were healthy and others not so much and she knew which were which of course! I also showed her how she could blend the foods to make a smoothie, or chop up and cook for her character.
My eldest found this part for the app pretty funny as she loved feeding up her character. At first she went a bit crazy feeding her pink-haired girl with random smoothies made from cake and chocolate. She also found it hilarious adding random mixes and seeing her girl not really enjoy the tastes!! It was also pretty funny seeing her character’s reaction to a chilli smoothie.
I watched her character start to get a little larger in size, the more food she was given and I’ll admit this was the bit I was a little uncertain of with the app. I have always avoided that with her in discussion and usually talk about food and health only and educated her about how protein is needed for growing and too much sugar is bad for her teeth etc, to give examples. However, she watches telly, she goes to school, she speaks to others and of course I can’t avoid her learning about food and weight at some point. I’m aware she now knows what happens if she overeats; she will gain weight.
As her character got larger and the scale on the bottom left of the screen went to to red, I asked her what was happening. She replied that her character was getting bigger, as she was eating too much. I agreed, especially all the chocolate and cake smoothies!
You could see her character “thinking” about exercise in a thought bubble, so I told my eldest to let her try some different activities.
We then had a go with some of the activities. There was running, bouncing on a trampoline, skating and lunging to name some examples. These were fun for her to do, as she had to make her character move and if she did well, she would unlock a new food or a new character. After playing for a while, her character got smaller and the arrow on the scale went to green again. The gremlin noticed this and exclaimed, look at her stomach! I explained she was using all her energy exercising.
The gremlin then went back into the kitchen to fuel up her character and she definitely fed her healthier options and tried different cooking methods, which was interesting.
Overall Thoughts on the Fitoons App
My eldest really enjoyed playing Fitoons. She has been on twice today, asking to play a couple of times. She really found the feeding aspect funny and she loves changing her characters clothes and picking new ones.
She also loved unlocking new foods, as she completed different exercises.
As a dietitian and health professional I found the concept and reasons for Fitoons very refreshing. It is great to see something out their for children, promoting healthy eating and exercise, as fun and important.
I’ll admit I was a little nervous of including the weight aspect, as I have always not wanted my girls to associate foods with weight BUT I know this is really unavoidable. What I like was unhealthy foods were included as choices and if the characters had a little to eat, they did not gain weight. It was more when they ate a lot of these foods or if they ate a lot in general which is of course, what happens! My gremlin picked up on the overeating aspect, which I do think is important for her to learn. She did also start to pick healthier choices on her second visit to the kitchen.
I’m very keen on exercising and my girls see me going to the gym 3 times a week. I want them to see this as normal and also see there are a variety of activities they can do. Fitoons helps to show this and inspire kids to see exercise as fun. It also wants them to realise if you are active you need to fuel your body with healthy food.
I do think you need to sit with your child and play it together to discuss what happens and ask questions about why your child is doing things, what choices they are making and have a sensible conversation about being healthy. Especially if you want to talk about weight in a factual, positive way. It’s a great way to introduce the benefits of certain foods and also discuss how sugary snacks are fine in moderation. Ultimately, you want your children to have a healthy relationship with food and exercise and not worry. I wouldn’t let my daughter have played alone for the first time, as would have wanted those chats.
I don’t tend to purchase Apps myself, as use free ones. If you regularly do, I was glad to see there were no further in app purchase. So if you don’t mind paying for Apps, you pay £4, which is reasonable for the Fitoons App.
Overall, I think Fitoons is a useful, educational and fun game for kids. I’d definitely play it with your child at first and use it as a way to talk about healthy eating and being active. It’s a fun way to also educate about food groups, cooking and what your kids can do to make keeping fit fun.
Want to download the Fitoons App? You can do so from the Apple Store.
Disclosure – we were provided with this product for free and compensated for our time. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
