Tears run down the monster’s cheeks and the corners of his mouth become down-turned. He has been fed a diet of crisps and chocolate and has become a regular smoker. At just two days’ old, the green, fish-like creature dies. RIP Giles.

Had Giles, a Foofin from planet Flantis, been exposed to a healthier regime, gone trampolining, or hit a ball round the park with his flippers, his chances of a long and happy life would have been much improved.

This is the message that the British Heart Foundation is trying to transmit to under-11s via a new website packed with games (including one that allows users to create and care for their own pet monster) which teach children how important their hearts are and how to look after them.

It also contains a practical section for teachers and parents, with ideas on how to interest children in their health and make heart health a family goal.

Debbie Allen, children and young people’s programme manager at the BHF, said: “Primary school age children helped create this website, telling us what they wanted and what interests them. By creating their own pet monsters to look after, they can learn how eating and activity affects their own heart health.”

The site is part of the BHF’s Food 4 Thought campaign and follows the innovative Yoobot site aimed at 11 to 13-year-olds to show them the effects of good and bad choices.

www.cbhf.net; www.yoobot.co.uk.