A food pyramid that’s just for kids

An online game and the first food pyramid created specifically for 6- to 11-year-olds just might help kids blast off to better eating habits. Or so the federal government hopes.

The goal is to get kids to “eat right, exercise and have fun,” Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told a room of fifth-graders recently in describing the new pyramid and game.

This year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture redesigned the food pyramid for adults and children 12 and older. The pyramid for kids 6 to 11 looks a lot like that one, with bold colorful stripes for each food group.

Orange stands for food made from grains, such as bread, crackers, pasta and rice. Red is for fruit; green for vegetables; and blue for milk and other dairy products, including yogurt and cheese. Purple stands for protein, including beans, nuts, lean meat, seafood, eggs, and chicken or turkey without the skin. Yellow is for olive oil, margarine, butter and other types of fat.

A stairway on the side of the pyramid reminds kids to be more active -- at least an hour of physical activity every day.

What makes the pyramid especially kid-friendly is Blast Off, an online game that can be played at school or home. Blast Off, available at www.mypyramid.gov, lets kids see what foods they need to eat and how much daily exercise they need to stay healthy.

The idea is simple: The more healthful foods you eat and the more exercise you get, the more your rocket builds up fuel. When it has enough fuel, you can blast off to Planet Power.

Some Alexandria, Va., third-graders who tried Blast Off found that it didn’t have some of their favorite foods.

The kids at Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School couldn’t find strawberries, blueberries or cantaloupe. It also didn’t list the powdered-sugar doughnut that Claudia Flores, 8, had for breakfast, or the biscuit eaten by Daniel Rodriguez, 8. (The three groups of food change periodically, so the game is a little different each time you play; you might not find cantaloupe one time, but it might be there the next.)

Although many kids get too little exercise, Blast Off might not be able to keep up with especially active kids. The game lets you record up to 60 minutes of exercise a day.

Athletic kids might want to keep track of their activity as part of a challenge program sponsored by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. They can earn a presidential medal for being active. That website is www.presidentschallenge.org.