Have trouble prying your kids from the computer screen to go for a bike ride or play in the yard?  There’s an app for that. Or there will be if enough enterprising programmers heed the Apps for Healthy Kids competition being sponsored by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! program.

Apps for Healthy Kids is awarding $60,000 in prizes to individuals who can “create innovative, fun and engaging software tools and games that encourage children directly or through their parents to make more nutritious food choices and be more physically active.”  The program is especially interested in reaching kids ages 9-12.

(I probably don’t need to point this out, but there’s a rather large problem with obesity in this country: obesity-related maladies cost us about $150 billion a year in health care expenses; the number of obese Americans has tripled over the past 30 years; the expected lifespan of America’s children is now less than that for their parents. The Let’s Move! program is trying to do something about it.)

Key things interested programmers should know:

• “Tools and games should be built using the USDA nutrition dataset recently made available to the public through the Open Government Initiative,” advise contest officials. (That dataset covers information on total calories, calories from “extras” (solid fats and added sugars), MyPyramid food groups for over 1,000 commonly eaten foods). You can find more official rules here.
• Registration is free and may be done here.
• Apps must be submitted by 5 p.m. EDT, June 30.
• Judging by a panel of experts (ranging from Dora Rivas, president of the School Nutrition Association) to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak) begins July 14 and ends August 14. The public will also be able to vote on submissions during this time.
• Grand prize winner gets $10,000, runner up $4,500, the people’s choice award winner $4,500 as well.
• Participants must be at least 13 (which we know eliminates a lot of qualified programmers, but dems da rules).

For more detailed information about the Apps for Healthy Kids program, go here.

Here’s hoping one of you comes up with an app that does for childhood obesity what Paper Toss has done for passing the time on tedious conference calls.

Photo: Check out some of the apps already submitted, including Pick Chow (pictured) by going here.