Nutrition apps – children

There are a variety of apps about nutrition for children. The focus of these apps ranges from recipes, meal plans, weight management advice and nutrition education. Some apps are aimed at parents or caregivers, with suggestions of actions they can take to support their child, while other apps are targeted directly at children. 

• Nutrition-themed apps for children include content relevant to children (not parents) about food and drinks.
• These apps often use strategies to increase child engagement such as gamification and images to make them fun and encourage interaction.
• A Canadian review of nutrition-themed apps for children found that apps included food and drink content not recommended by dietary guidelines, with gaming apps more likely to display foods that aren't recommended than their nongaming counterparts. Many apps had a moderate app quality, and the use of consequences (instead of rewards) was the most common behaviour change technique. Read more about the Canadian app review.(external link)

Tips when looking for apps about children's nutrition

Do (✔)

• Look for apps from a recognised and credible source, eg, a dietitian or health organisation.
• Use an app for food inspiration or to plan and record food intake.
• Adapt and amend recipes to include plenty of vegetables, and less salt and sugar.

Don’t (✘)

• Trust everything you are told. It's important to cross check advice with a trusted source or health professional.
• Rely on apps which use food databases that are not from Aotearoa New Zealand or Australia.

Here are a few apps about children's nutrition that Healthify has reviewed

App	Description	Clinical review
Little Lunches	Little Lunches is an app is best by used parents and caregivers planning and cooking meals for children up to 2 years old. Read more about Little Lunches.
Kids Meals	Kids Meals app is best used by parents and caregivers who are wanting ideas and inspiration on creating positive mealtime experiences and offering a wide range of food exposure to children. Read more about Kids Meals.
Solid Starts	Solid Starts is an app for people wanting information and support to introduce first foods to babies and progress through food textures stages in the early years. Read more about Solid Starts.
Cookbook Junior - Kids Recipes	Easy Recipes for Kids (Junior Cookbook) is a recipe library collated from other users. Read more about Cookbook Junior - Kids Recipes.
Wello: Healthy habits for kids app	The main aim of this app is to create an eating and activity plan for children which can be monitored. Read more about Wello: Healthy habits for kids app.

Learn more

The following are credible New Zealand websites that have information about childhood nutrition.

• KidsHealth New Zealand(external link)(external link)
• Plunket(external link)(external link)
• Easy Choice Family Kai(external link)(external link)
• Healthy Babies Healthy Futures(external link)(external link)
• Healthy Kids(external link)(external link)
• NZ Nutrition Foundation(external link)(external link)
• Heart Foundation(external link)(external link)
• 5+a day(external link)(external link)