Our Special Island

Our Special Island (Motu Ta'e'iloa in Tongan) is an educational pilot program designed for Tongan children in their first or second year of school. The program has been developed through a partnership between the Australian Government and the LAUNCH Food platform, and is supported by the Ministry of Education and Training, Tonga. It is being delivered by game-based education application developer Millipede.

The main resource is a fun tablet application that engages children in learning through play, as they grow and collect healthy food items to use to make traditional meals. Two Tongan characters, Kelela and Pulotu, support the player, while Maui-Kisikisi, the youngest son of the great Polynesian cultural hero Maui, helps out with the cooking.   

Print resources in the form of a board game, flashcards and worksheets have also been designed to support existing food and nutrition lessons in the classroom, and to extend the messaging in the app.

The Pilot

When: April - June 2018

Where: 11 primary schools across the island of Tongatapu in Tonga

What: Tablet application, board game, flashcards and worksheets

Who: Year 1 and 2 students (ages 6 and 7)