Schools invited to trial healthy food ‘workstations’
Yorkshire design company KanGarRoo has developed a range of workstations designed to help teachers put the fun, practicality and sense of achievement back into healthy food preparation - with the ultimate aim of encouraging children to lead healthier lifestyles.
Working with schools, industry bodies and children across the UK, the company is now looking for nutrition and healthcare education and pre-school and primary educators to help evaluate the workstations before they are manufactured.
Steve Hoffman, KanGarRoo director, says, "Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the last 30 years. During this time, the way we shop and our capacity to prepare healthy meals and snacks every day have changed dramatically.
“A quarter of all Brits now manage only two properly cooked meals a week, and less and less of these are in social circumstances. For many of us, balancing work with busy lives has meant that the enjoyment has gone out of shopping, preparing and cooking food with balanced nutrition.
“Somewhere along the line, our culinary skills have faded. It's no-one's fault. It's just the way life is these days. For convenience, a lot of us are grazing on fast food - and adults and children are gaining weight, or not eating healthily enough, and this has a knock-on effect.
“Twenty-five percent of boys and 33% of girls between two and 19 are now overweight or obese. One of the major problems is that in many homes, because of our lifestyles, children are not learning basic healthy food preparation or social eating skills. As designers, we believe we have a role in helping to address this.
“Looking at the wider picture, we now believe that pre-school and primary school educators need to fill in the gaps that are now prevalent in UK households.
“Pre-empting the need for functional, versatile, healthy food preparation workstations that meet all the necessary EN Standards, we have developed a range of modular furniture specifically for use in primary and pre-school environments.
“We hope they will revolutionise the educational environment by engaging and inspiring children and by aiding teachers to help improve children's eating habits and their understanding of nutrition."
If you would like to be involved in this worthwhile project and help evaluate the workstations, please contact info@kangarroo.co.uk.