LeapFrog offers a range of educational tablets, game systems, and other electronic devices for kids. Now the company’s launching its first wearable product: The LeapBand activity tracker.
It’s a $40 device that kids can wear like a wristwatch, and it doesn’t just track movement, it also includes game activities that encourage kids to exercise by playing.
It does that courtesy of a virtual pet system. The more points you earn by jumping, wiggling, or dancing, the more rewards including the ability to unlock additional pets and other special features.
The wristband is water-resistant, features a color display, and has an accelerometer for tracking activities such as “walk like a crab” and “spin like a helicopter.” The hope is that by turning these activities into games with rewards, kids between the ages of 4 and 7 will want to do physical activities rather than sitting still and exercising just their thumbs with your iPod touch or Nintendo DS.
The LeapBand is expected to hit the streets in August. There are probably other ways to get your kid to exercise… but who wants to get up off the couch to try them?
via WSJ