‘Good Game! Good Game!’ Sara’s cooking class gets Tween girls cooking!

GirlsgoGames has today launched new tween gaming app ‘Sara’s Cooking Class’. Based on the most popular desktop game on GirlsgoGames, an online social-gaming platform tailored to girls with 50 million monthly active users worldwide, the app encourages tweengirls to ‘cook’ different recipes with the help of a friendly cartoon chef named Sara.

Forget a messy kitchen, waiting forever for the oven to bake your cake then waiting another age for it to cool to decorate – Sara’s cooking class lets girls with a passion for all things sparkly and girly, prepare, cook and decorate their creations all online.

But wait. Sparkly? Pink? Girly? Isn’t this 2012…

My first impressions of the game I have to admit were negative. Why only girls? Why so pink and sparkly? My questions were soon answered during a a recent trip to Amsterdam by Dieneke Kuijpers, Marketing Director of GirlsgoGames.

“We want to introduce more young girls to Sara, and ultimately widen the audience of the game—both online and now on the native app. TV chef Jamie Oliver challenged the UK to think more about what we eat and cooking for ourselves, from scratch. In this way, encouraging the younger generation to learn about preparing  meals and experience the joy of cooking independently is at the heart of all Sara’s Cooking Class games.”

The game is the final product of lot’s of research. Sara’s cooking class was designed and produced based on conversations with lots of Tween ( 8-12 year old) girls and lots of important facts relating to that age range, for example, did you know:

• Role-playing is important to a child’s healthy social development. Through imitation and role-playing, children learn how to behave appropriately in different social situations. It is also a key tool in developing their creativity and helping them think about the future, like what they want to be when they grow up. Teacher, veterinarian, and doctor are the top-ranked worldwide for 6 to 12-year-old girls, while for girls aged 4 to 6 it’s being a mum.

• Children start to role- play future vocations between the ages of three and five, traditionally acting out scenarios with their friends or toys. Increasingly, however, they turn to online games for more immersive simulations of their imagined futures.

•   20% of families eat together only occasionally, or never (Pew Research 2010). Food plays a central role in our lives, and the kitchen a central role in the family. Mealtimes are important bonding moments to connect with children and instil values. With parents and kids increasingly on the go, it becomes more important to set aside time to cook and eat together.

•  The amount of time tween girls spend playing games per month has more than doubled over the last year.

 Interesting stuff right? The research and the ideas that have created Sara’s cooking class have squashed some of my original doubts.  It seems the whole project is focused on the ever changing needs and ideas of real Tween girls who want to role play in a virtual world.

Yes this is 2012 and times have changed, but girls still want to do the things their mothers and grandmothers enjoyed doing – but now they want to do them online.

According to Spilgames’ State of Gaming report, last year they spent 38 minutes each month on online games—but now they spend 1 hour and 18 minutes. GirlsgoGames is thrilled to be the leading casual online-gaming platform for tween girls in the UK, with more than 2.5 million girls per month. Their favourite categories on the site are beauty and makeover games, quizzes and tests, and cooking games. So you see – Sara’s cooking class isn’t going back in time, it’s moving forward. It’s listening to what girls want and acting on it.

It seems the guys at GirlsgoGames know their stuff, I’m impressed with the thought and research that have gone into what seems such a simple game, and that’s not just from a parenting point of view, but a professional who has studied gender and social behaviours during my studies and 22 year career.

However, there is one critisim, And one that echoed around most of us attending the event – Sara needs to wear more! Call me a British prude if you like, but I’m all for covering  up when it comes to young girls. Sara seems a little too flirty in her attire for my liking, she likes to show her belly-button and has a rather (ahem) low cut top on! I was very pleased to hear that this is something already in hand – she’s getting a longer top to cover her tummy and a vest to cover up that shirt opening! That’ll go down much better with Tween mothers I’m sure!

So the game is just for girls?

Well, yes, there’s still that but then girls and boys in the Tween age really are different.  Men and women are different right?  We like different games, websites, clothes – so this isn’t really any different. Having said that, there are games aimed at boys that girls play, and I don’t see any reason why boys wouldn’t enjoy a similar game – Perhaps Girlgogames might consider Sara having a brother in the near future? boys like cooking too!

Finally, it’s great to see a gaming company putting such thought into what is a tricky area.  The Tween years are often a troubling time. By talking to both the girls and their mums Girlgogames have listened to what real families want for their young girls, and how they feel about online gaming and acted accordingly. Good job. Or in the words of Brucie - Good game! Good game!

Sara’s cooking class is available today both as a lite (free) version, and as a  full (£1.99) version with additional features. It is available in the iTunes App Store, Google Play and the Amazon Appstore.