My University Project! Any suggestions would be fantastic!

[TomSudlow]

Hello there,

Im a second year student and im studying a product design degree in Sheffield. For my current project ive been given the task to design a product (electrical) for parents to use in the kitchen with their children (under 16). Its purpose is to encourage cooking with parents and to promote healthy eating and 'real' food. I thought I would post on here because lets agree who is better to talk to than the people im designing for, parents. Any suggestions (and i mean any!!!) would be super helpful.

thanks in advance
tom

Biscuit maker? I know cupcake makers already exist, but something similar for biscuits? It could plug in; very simple. After the kids can decorate the cookies, much like cupcakes.

Your idea sounds good - but possibly hi tech and expensive? Why is the touch screen attached to a blender and not, say, a separate interactive recipe book?

Touch screen + children + kitchen = hideously sticky screen (not to mention distraction, slipperiness and thus breakage). Anything interactive like that needs to be a parallel product to be used away from the kitchen.

Also, getting them cooking is a great way to get them off screens - a place where they spend far too long. I would swerve products that bring them into yet more places.

I really like whimsicalname's idea for a fruit leather making machine! It's a great way of getting more fruit into a refusnik, and being able to make a lower additive/higher fibre version at home would be great.

I was going to say the same as xmas baby, having it as a separate device would be better. Maybe you could have an electronic recipe book that can connect to blenders and other pieces of equipment? It would also mean that the blender wouldn't have to be taken to the computer each time you wanted to update it.

Also, children's hands get messy, so you'd need to think of a way to prevent food mess allowing the device to become too grubby. Easy cleaning is key too (dishwashable for example).

Of course the inevitability of mess whilst cooking with kids is a paramount issue.
I also really like this idea. Really handy for lunchboxes and daily snacks. Almost like a fun play dough molder that you can then eat at the end. Im definitely going to have a good look at this.

Thanks again

i meant the fruit leather idea haha

Go with my self stirring pot-lid, my friend!

(although I must admit your idea is better!)

Fab project, as others have said, difficult because most things already exist, and those of us responding will cook with our children anyway. But I know people who would like their children to cook, don't cook themselves, and don't have the patience but would throw money at it.
What about something like a soup maker - similar to a slow cooker with a fast setting, plus with an in-built blade: cook soup, then press button to set blade off for blending? Ticks the healthy eating box, ticks the child-friendly box (no pouring hot soup into a blender). I guess realistically such a product would cost too much to produce, depends whether you need to take that into consideration in your design.

Something like a wall mounted/hand held version of the websites where you plug in some ingredients and you get a list of suggested recipes e.g. cookingbynumber.com(though it isn't loading ATM), then prints off the chosen recipe, or projects it onto wall/door so you don't have to move to look at it.

You could add options for low salt, low fat, high fibre, special dietary requirements.

Give it a waterproof/wipeable keyboard.

Have its own wifi to update the recipe selection.

I was going to post what Indith said, about the chopping and knives. My ds is 4 and loves knives and cutting but I can't trust him not to chop his hand off. Also my dd's are 10 and 11 and I still hate them cutting anything but that's part of cooking. So I would also say something to help cutting with knives. Not sure how that could be an electrical item though.

Also something to sort out the mess - that's the reason I don't cook with the kids as often as I should, because I end up cleaning for ages after

Whoops, posted before I read the whole thread.

Like the others, not sure about the blender idea. It would work for smoothies because you throw all the ingredients into the blender but for soup you have to cook the stuff first and blend it after, so you'd have to have the blender out to read the recipe.

If you were to make a separate electronic recipe book what about putting the recipes in words and in pictures, like for 2 carrots put a picture of 2 carrots - my ds can't read yet so it wouldn't be of any use to him if it were just words at least that way he could tell me what ingredients to use.

And put some suction pads on it that will stick to kitchen cupboards (not just tiles) so it can be moved around to where you want to put it.

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Soup makers are already on the market, ones that cook the food then blend as well - I know because I was looking at getting one

I was going to suggest some kind of electronic grater - I know that food processors are supposed to do the job but I don't find mine particularly effective for e.g. cheese. So a little electronic gadget that does the rubbing of the cheese against the grater, saving my knuckles and nails, would be fab. My nearly 4yo would love it too - he always wants to help with the grating but he's about as clumsy as I am so there'd be grated knuckle in with the cheese for sure.

However, a fruit leather maker would be good too :)

I think that the electronic recipe book has already been done, if not as a standalone item, as an app for iPhones and things - but possibly not as a learning tool for children as well, so that could be an adaptation that would make it a good idea.