Plastic Fork Diaries

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Nutrition site give tweens plenty to chew on.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that there is no advertising on the site. Kids will learn lots of nutritional information, from how many laps they have to swim to work of a cheeseburger, to a recipe for making their own yogurt.


What's it about?

Follow the lives of six middle school kids by reading their diaries, scanning scraps of paper in their lockers, and viewing other bits of ephemera. Each student has his own issues and secrets, and as it turns out, his own relationship with food. This site is a companion to the PBS series. Each episode may be viewed online, adventure-game style. You "walk" through the school by clicking on a master map. Along the way you'll discover clues to what's going on with each student. Additional material about each episode is also available on the site.


Is it any good?

 

This highly interactive site takes a creative, sophisticated approach to teaching about food and nutrition. In addition to covering basics like calorie intake, PLASTIC FORK DIARIES touches on topics like meat substitutes, the relationship between smell and hunger, and FDA labeling. It's not every day that you find a site for young teens that runs the gamut from the history of cotton candy to the role of food in religious traditions -- and also manages to be coherent, educational, and engaging.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about their relationships with food. Parents will find more discussion points in the downloadable activity guide.


This review was written by Jean Armour Polly
Adult
November 10, 2008
 
Amazing!
This is an amazing health site for pre-teens and teens alike. It's relevant, story-driven, and very age appropriate. Plastic Fork Diaries also keeps health interesting by including random (yet important) facts like how to avoid bread mold and the history of the sandwich. Well done!

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Teen, 16 years old
April 9, 2008
 
This website is soooooooo cool! I love the part that tells you about eating worms

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Parent of 12 year old
April 20, 2011
 
Learn to burn calories - I don't recommend
I never even went on the site but when I read the description that it can tell you how many laps to swim to work off a cheeseburger...are you kidding me. Just the information that young girls don't need. If your child has an eating disorder (it can happen as early as 11 - I know mine did) this would be the perfect place to learn how to burn calories.

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Teen, 14 years old
November 5, 2010
 
love it

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This review was written by Jean Armour Polly
Genre:Educational

This review was written by Jean Armour Polly

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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