You shouldn’t play with food. You shouldn’t mess around while eating. You shouldn’t bring toys to the table…
Whether or not you agree with these little rules, one thing is now clear: with technology and apps, things have changed. If the second and third rules remain unchanged (tablets shouldn’t be brought to the table!), the first one strikes us as a little obsolete. These days we can play with food: there are apps that allow children to have a good time, learn and be creative without wasting anything!
The first app we want to mention is the fabulous Toca Kitchen by Toca Boca, the Swedish
company leader in the digital toys sector. This is in a way a classic of its genre, there are various versions of this app: you can prepare food for monsters, cats or babies… It’s not particularly educational but – we have
to admit – it’s irresistible: blending carrots and potatoes at high speed is very satisfying; and feeding the monster cardboard and hearing him grumbling puts us in a good mood.
If, on the other hand, you want to become expert pizza maker, you really have to try the Timbuktu Lab (yes, that Timbuktu lab, the one that made Goodnight stories for rebel girls!) Pizza app. It’s a simple app, with a LITE version in which you can learn
to make both pizza margherita and pizza marinara, and a paid-for version in which you
can make pizzas with all kinds of different ingredients (if you feel particularly inspired there’s also a bundle set, “Kitchen“, with a whole range of apps to learn how to make pasta or Christmas cookies).
However, if you don’t just want to play but also learn something about other
countries, cultures and recipes, then you need to try WORLD FOOD. This app, developed
for MUBA, the children museum in Milan, is an invitation to travel, taste unusual foods and imagine life in far-
flung countries. The updated version will be available on the AppStore and Google Play
from 15 December, and will be full of surprises! And we have in store a major surprise that we’re sure will make not just kids but also grown-ups quite happy.
In the meantime, we leave you with this video of American kids tasting typical foods from other countries! Just look at their faces!! 😀
