Jenny Benjamin on a software programme that can help early years settings to plan a balanced diet for children in their care
We all know that lifelong habits, both good and bad, have their roots in the pre-school years. We constantly discuss the development of social skills, cognitive ability and self-esteem, but we often forget that the behaviour patterns that begin at this time also include habits to do with food.
Professional carers have an important role to play in setting children off on the road to healthy eating, but they need help if they are to do the job properly. To this end, the Caroline Walker Trust, a charity dedicated to improving public health through good food, has devised CHOMP, a computer programme that enables carers to plan balanced menus that are also appetising and affordable.
Drawing from CHOMP's database of more than 800 foods, users fill a menu grid covering all the possible meals of the day from breakfast to supper. Users can then produce a nutritional analysis for the week, shown in the form of a bar chart.
If the bar is coloured red, this indicates that levels of any specified element are too high or too low. Click on the bar and you can produce a list of the 'rogue' items - those particularly high or low in the relevant nutrient. You can then delete the worst offenders and substitute better alternatives taken from the database.
All the calculations are based on appropriately child-sized portions, and follow guidelines set out in the trust's 1998 report Eating Well for Under-Fives in Childcare.
The programme also produces average costings calculated by week, by day and by meal. Other features include recipes and weekly shopping lists to print out, and a help file giving background information on nutrition.
CHOMP is undoubtedly a wonderful resource, and, given the huge amount of research that has gone into it, remarkably cheap at 20. However, those not familiar with computers may find it rather complicated to use. The layout, help panels and accessing procedures could have been made much more user-friendly for the novice, though one appreciates that buying in slicker design could well have made the costs prohibitive for a non-commercial organisation.
CHOMP, and a separate training manual containing much of the same information, can be obtained from The Caroline Walker Trust, 22 Kindersley Way, Abbots Langley, Herts WD5 ODQ
Software reviews
All in the notes
There are some pieces of software that almost fail to get reviewed because the reviewer can't tear themself away from the programme. One such is Music Ace (Windows/Mac, CD Rom, Harmonic Vision, 25.49). Marketed in the UK by Guildsoft (01752 895 100), this well- thought-out programme was designed at the Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, as a means of imparting basic musical understanding. The box announces an age range of eight years and upwards, but, taken slowly, and with plenty of adult help, many of the lessons could easily be managed by children of five or six.
The accompanying booklet makes it clear that the software is intended to be an adjunct to conventional music lessons, not a substitute. The programme should prove a boon to music teachers, because it manages to make an enjoyable exercise out of the repetition essential to learning such things as the positions of the notes on the stave. It also addresses the vital, but frequently overlooked, skills of listening and pitch differentiation. Children often embark on learning to play an instrument before getting a good hold of these fundamentals, with the result that they soon get disheartened.
Much of Music Ace's appeal derives from its on-screen teacher Maestro Max. Max is firm but fair, instructing briskly both in sound and in text bubbles. When you get things right, the notes grin and Max heaps on the praise; when you're wrong he just tells you to 'try again'.
Each of the 24 interactive lessons is followed by a consolidating game, and each activity is preceded by a short excerpt from a classical piece. The pieces are properly named - opus numbers and all - a feature which exemplifies the programme's ability to make serious music fun without trivialising it.
