Wearable fitness isn't just for adults any longer.
LeapFrog, well-known for its tablet games and other products targeted at educating children, has unveiled the LeapBand, a $40 device that's being described as "the only activity tracker just for kids that encourages active play and healthy habits with a customizable pet pal."
Whether this device and others like it can catch on with children and their parents remains to be seen, but it could be an important step in addressing the national epidemic of childhood obesity – and give pediatricians a valuable tool to connect with parents and kids.
The brightly colored, oversized LeapBand wristband features a rechargeable battery, audio instructions and parental controls, allowing parents to program the device to shut down during school or quiet times. Company officials say it will be available for the public this August, and is targeted at kids ages 4-7.
In activity mode, parents can set up to 50 challenges for their kids (such as "wiggle like a worm" or "pop like popcorn"), who can track their progress on an "energy bar" and earn points to unlock rewards. The child can also create a "pet pal," and can earn points by keeping it healthy (bathing, feeding and grooming), during which the child also learns about nutrition and other healthy habits.
According to TechCrunch, other vendors eyeing the wearable market for kids include Tinitell, a Swedish startup developing a wearable phone and GPS tracker that's small enough to fit on a toddler's wrist and Guardian, a Bluetooth-based wearable device being markets by Taiwanese startup BeLuvv – though both of those devices and a few others in the field are focused primarily on security. Another startup now trying to raise funds through kickstartr, Moff, is a slap band developed by a Japanese company that includes accelerometers and gyros to measure movement and translate them into sounds.
Catching on with children and their short attention spans will be challenging for wearable makers, but the market potential is promising because the problem these offerings look to address is growing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than doubled in the past 30 years, jumping from 7 percent of children between 6-11 in 1980 to nearly 18 percent in 2012, while the percentage of obese adolescents (ages 12-19) has skyrocketed from 5 percent to nearly 21 percent over the same time period.
According to the CDC, children and adolescents who are obese are likely to continue being overweight as adults, and therefore carry a much higher risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer and osteoarthritis.
Unlike wearable devices for adults, those designed for children under 13 years of age must meet federal regulations that closely regulate how data is captured and used. LeapFrog officials have said safeguards will be in place so that parents can access the data, but no one else can use it.
