We're excited that you're considering participating in the competition. Take a look at the homepage for details about Important Dates, Prizes and Judges. Be sure to read the Official Rules. If you have any suggestions to improve the challenge for developers, please contact us.

• USDA Nutrition Dataset (Required for all submissions. This is the same as the dataset at www.data.gov/details/1294.) [Note: The required USDA Nutrition Dataset is part of a larger USDA dataset called the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS). Use of the 3.0 version of this larger dataset is also acceptable as the required dataset. The FNDDS 3.0 dataset can be downloaded here.]
• Data.gov (Optional)
• USDA Source Code (Optional)

Potential topic areas for games and apps include any of these concepts - independently or in combination.

1. Teaching kids to eat more whole grains
2. Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption
3. Focusing on consuming more low- or non-fat milk
4. Choosing lean sources of protein (meat and beans)
5. Making food group education fun
6. Understanding calories
7. Increasing foods with high nutrition value and decreasing amounts of solid fats and added sugars ("extra" calories), and decreasing amounts of sodium
8. Identifying and consuming proper portion size
9. Being more physically active
10. Balancing physical activity and food intake

• Education Framework of USDA's MyPyramid
• Rate What You Ate: Using the MyPyramid Menu Planner
• MyPyramid Ten Tips Nutrition Education Series
• Let's Move PSAs
• Apps.gov
• Some helpful tips about Mobile Apps

http://www.whyville.net/AppsForHealthyKids

Apps for Healthy Kids partner Numedeon, Inc. has created a space within the virtual world Whyville.net for "tweens" (ages 9-12), the primary targeted user group of the competition, to play and evaluate contestants' games. Developers may post their game prototypes in the Whyville Game Arcade, where Whyville's hundreds of thousands of users will be able to play, rate and submit real-time feedback.