DDR Kat
02-12-2007, 05:46 PM
With products like Smart Cycle, toy makers exercise imagination and technology to fight obesity
BY KEIKO MORRIS
Newsday Staff Writer
Pedaling away on small stationary bikes set before television screens, four preschoolers kept their aerobic workout going to the clarion shouts of fitness guru Richard Simmons.
"You've got to keep pedaling, baby," Simmons, dressed in shorts and a sequined tank top, cried to his diminutive crew, as he fielded questions from reporters. "... Keep pedaling, keep pedaling. You got it, yay!"
Not Simmons' typical workout class, the children cycling behind him yesterday inside Mattel's Manhattan showroom were demonstrating Fisher-Price's new Smart Cycle -- the latest in active toys and an innovation Simmons is now promoting in his campaign to improve children's health and fitness by expanding physical education requirements in the No Child Left Behind legislation. The Smart Cycle is expected to be on the market in July.
With the number of overweight children doubling since the 1970s, concerns about obesity and overall health of children nationwide has become a prevalent topic among educators and health professionals. A handful of toy companies, such as Mattel, Fisher-Price's parent company, have taken up the cause and will debut some new "active" products at the American International Toy Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan Sunday.
"Active play is definitely one of Mattel's initiatives for this year and it's something we are seeing throughout the toy industry," said Chris Byrne, toy expert and contributing editor for the magazine Toy Wishes. "When you look at the Smart Cycle, it's pure play because it's a child's version of an adult activity."
The concept behind the Smart Cycle is that children learn better when they are having fun and, in this case, the idea is that they don't realize they are involved in a scholastic and exercise endeavor, Fisher-Price officials said.
The toy consists of a small bicycle and digital games that plug into the television. To play any of the games -- which include the ever-popular Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants characters -- the child has to pedal. And the games involve tasks such as matching colors, numbers and shapes as well as spelling and counting.
During the past several years, Nickelodeon's approach has been to promote a message of good health and fitness where it can in its programs and products, said Leigh Anne Brodsky, president of Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products. Nickelodeon's "Let's Just Play" initiative has included grants, documentaries and even going off the air for three hours to foster more active and healthy lifestyles.
"I think health and wellness has come to the forefront, and as a company, that is a focus," Brodsky said. "Where it makes sense we will do products that give kids the message to get up and go and have fun with the characters."
In addition to these games, the company has introduced a line of Wilson tennis racquets and Rossignol skis with Dora and SpongeBob. The characters now also appear on the packaging of healthy foods such as baby carrots, clementines, spinach and organic edamame, in agreements with various produce companies.
Many point to Konami's Dance Dance Revolution as the toy that spawned the latest trend of combining the arcade with fitness. First popularized in Japan's arcades, Dance Dance Revolution teaches a number of dance combinations using arrows on a screen that correspond to arrows on a mat where the player stands. There is a workout mode in which players can count the calories they burn.
Introduced to the United States in 1999, the game now has a home version that can be played on Xbox and PlayStation and has been adopted into a fitness curriculum to combat obesity in West Virginia schools.
"The schools started calling us about three years ago, and we hadn't even thought of the idea of putting it in schools," said Clara Gilbert, Konami America's director of business partnerships, based in California. "With all the new technology, they wanted to see how to get kids moving in a fun way."
A new version for the Xbox 360 will come out at the end of this month, and a version for the Nintendo Wii will be released in the fall.
The toys may not be a cure for the nation's weight problems, experts said, but they might help.
"What's interesting is you take something like TV-watching, which has been a passive activity, and you add an element to activity to it," Byrne said. "It can't be a bad thing."
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/ny-bztoy0211,0,2228286.story?coll=sfla-news-health
BY KEIKO MORRIS
Newsday Staff Writer
Pedaling away on small stationary bikes set before television screens, four preschoolers kept their aerobic workout going to the clarion shouts of fitness guru Richard Simmons.
"You've got to keep pedaling, baby," Simmons, dressed in shorts and a sequined tank top, cried to his diminutive crew, as he fielded questions from reporters. "... Keep pedaling, keep pedaling. You got it, yay!"
Not Simmons' typical workout class, the children cycling behind him yesterday inside Mattel's Manhattan showroom were demonstrating Fisher-Price's new Smart Cycle -- the latest in active toys and an innovation Simmons is now promoting in his campaign to improve children's health and fitness by expanding physical education requirements in the No Child Left Behind legislation. The Smart Cycle is expected to be on the market in July.
With the number of overweight children doubling since the 1970s, concerns about obesity and overall health of children nationwide has become a prevalent topic among educators and health professionals. A handful of toy companies, such as Mattel, Fisher-Price's parent company, have taken up the cause and will debut some new "active" products at the American International Toy Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan Sunday.
"Active play is definitely one of Mattel's initiatives for this year and it's something we are seeing throughout the toy industry," said Chris Byrne, toy expert and contributing editor for the magazine Toy Wishes. "When you look at the Smart Cycle, it's pure play because it's a child's version of an adult activity."
The concept behind the Smart Cycle is that children learn better when they are having fun and, in this case, the idea is that they don't realize they are involved in a scholastic and exercise endeavor, Fisher-Price officials said.
The toy consists of a small bicycle and digital games that plug into the television. To play any of the games -- which include the ever-popular Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants characters -- the child has to pedal. And the games involve tasks such as matching colors, numbers and shapes as well as spelling and counting.
During the past several years, Nickelodeon's approach has been to promote a message of good health and fitness where it can in its programs and products, said Leigh Anne Brodsky, president of Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products. Nickelodeon's "Let's Just Play" initiative has included grants, documentaries and even going off the air for three hours to foster more active and healthy lifestyles.
"I think health and wellness has come to the forefront, and as a company, that is a focus," Brodsky said. "Where it makes sense we will do products that give kids the message to get up and go and have fun with the characters."
In addition to these games, the company has introduced a line of Wilson tennis racquets and Rossignol skis with Dora and SpongeBob. The characters now also appear on the packaging of healthy foods such as baby carrots, clementines, spinach and organic edamame, in agreements with various produce companies.
Many point to Konami's Dance Dance Revolution as the toy that spawned the latest trend of combining the arcade with fitness. First popularized in Japan's arcades, Dance Dance Revolution teaches a number of dance combinations using arrows on a screen that correspond to arrows on a mat where the player stands. There is a workout mode in which players can count the calories they burn.
Introduced to the United States in 1999, the game now has a home version that can be played on Xbox and PlayStation and has been adopted into a fitness curriculum to combat obesity in West Virginia schools.
"The schools started calling us about three years ago, and we hadn't even thought of the idea of putting it in schools," said Clara Gilbert, Konami America's director of business partnerships, based in California. "With all the new technology, they wanted to see how to get kids moving in a fun way."
A new version for the Xbox 360 will come out at the end of this month, and a version for the Nintendo Wii will be released in the fall.
The toys may not be a cure for the nation's weight problems, experts said, but they might help.
"What's interesting is you take something like TV-watching, which has been a passive activity, and you add an element to activity to it," Byrne said. "It can't be a bad thing."
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/ny-bztoy0211,0,2228286.story?coll=sfla-news-health