NFB launches I Love Potatoes game app for kids

 

More and more kids are interested in making a difference in the world we live in. Now they can learn how to create social change with the new I Love Potatoes game just launched by the National Film Board (NFB), co-created by NFB Artist In Residence Vali Fugulin and Minority Media with illustrations by Oscar-nominee Patrick Doyon, and music by Jean-Phi Goncalves et Alex McMahon. 

The game is designed to engage children ages 9-12, and their families, on issues of social innovation and sustainable economy in a slightly absurd and funny manner. It's an adventure game that takes kids through the journey of social change leading to inter-generational discussion on how to change the world --- one small step at a time. 

The game app is available worldwide on tablets for free downloads (iOS and Android) and in seven languages (English, French, Quebec French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese). The nfb.ca/ilovepotatoes site also includes a guide for educational tools. 

In a world of the game, potatoes are the fundamental resource needed to maintain social balance. Players must take action after a sudden potato shortage. Playing as the character Chips, kids have to find innovative solutions and build a community that can re-establish the ecosystem needed for the potatoes to thrive. 

The game was inspired by seven social innovators:

Chips: Since the age of six, Albeiro Vargas has been moved by the plight of abandoned homeless elderly people on the streets of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Today, his foundation helps hundreds of them.

Zepeel: Appalled by the hygiene and living conditions of her neighbourhood in Lima, Peru, Albina Ruiz created micro-enterprises collecting and recycling waste.

Tuberosa: Germaine Acogny felt that African culture was under-appreciated. She founded l’École des Sables in Senegal to help dancers from all over the continent.

Tinkerers: The children of Cateura, Paraguay worked in the dump and rarely attended school. Today, they are learning music and building their own instruments out of materials recycled from the dump.

Lower City: The non-profit organization Renaissance, in Montreal, Canada recovers tons of clothing destined for the garbage by re-selling it at low cost. This recycling creates employment and provides an opportunity for the less fortunate to buy affordable clothes.

Beach: Guy and Neca Marcovaldi were revolted by the killing of a turtle on a beach in Brazil. They created a sanctuary to protect turtles in Praia do Forte.

Mayor: Jaime Lerner found his city of Curitiba, Brazil to be polluted and congested. He has made sustainable transformations with light buses and simple initiatives such as an exchange of waste in return for food.