Treasure Hunt with the Munch Crunch Bunch

Meet Rudi, a little boy who over-does it on sugary, empty-calorie breakfast foods before a trip to the grocery store with his mom. When he arrives in the produce department, Rudi is sluggish from his unhealthy breakfast. The next thing he knows, friendly "All-Star Apple" takes him on a journey to the Munch Crunch Bunch Organic Garden where talking fruits and vegetables teach Rudi the benefits of eating foods from the earth. This is the story you'll find in Treasure Hunt with the Munch Crunch Bunch, an educational and interactive book and game, designed to instill good eating habits in your kids and a life-long love of fruits and vegetables.

The team at Kid Well Enterprises, makers of Munch Crunch Bunch, are experts in nutrition and author Jan Wolterman hopes her story will help kids make informed decisions when they grab a snack from the fridge or help shop at the supermarket. To ensure their book hits home with kids, they even had an effectiveness study conducted that looked at a group of kids' eating habits before and after reading Munch Crunch Bunch. The study found that after reading the story and playing the games, children were eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and less fast food, soda pop and high sugar snacks.

In addition to an imaginative story, Munch Crunch Bunch comes with 54 "Foodle" cards - cards that have colorful fruit and vegetable characters on one side and a riddle about that food on the other - that can be stowed in a little treasure chest (all easy to cut and assemble). These foodles are a great tool to teach kids about foods they may not have tried before, and as the book suggests, are helpful to take along to the grocery store. At the back of the book you'll also find the Munch Crunch Bunch Board Game, a fun game that incorporates the foodle cards. While my almost- 6-year-old kept shouting "Let's play again" after a round of the board game (recommended for ages 4 and up), the concept was a little bit tough for my 4-year-old to fully grasp. Both of my little ones, however, were able to answer many of the foodle riddles, and had a gas laughing at the silly caricatures of fruits and veggies.

I could also really appreciate the additional resources for parents on the Munch Crunch Bunch website. They suggest several activities you can do with and without the foodles to start your kids thinking and talking about healthy eating and active living. You can also find a ton of recipes on their website, categorized by the fruits and veggies found on the foodle cards, so that you can get your kids involved in cooking. So, next time you're settling in for story time, or headed out on a family trip to the grocery store, grab Rudi, "All-Star Apple" and the whole Munch Crunch gang to encourage your kids to take pride in their nutritional decisions today and in the future.

For more information, visit www.MunchCrunchBunch.com.