“Go play outside!”
At the height of the DC-area summer, when the temperature outside was in the 80s but the humidity was set to “drown ‘em!”, that’s what my Mom would yell. And we’d go outside . . . and generally sit in the shade of some tree in my friend Dave’s yard, sucking down increasingly-warm Pepsi and waiting until someone’s Mom had cooled down enough to let us back in to the blessed AC-cooled sanctuary.
So now I’m an adult with kids of my own, telling them to “go outside!” at the height of an Austin summer. And I admit, I’m kinda curious just how much running around Joseph does versus, say, sitting in the shad and sucking down soda. (Or in his case, apple juice–we don’t keep soda in the house.) Well, with GeoPalz, I’d at least have some idea.
GeoPalz is basically a kiddy pedometer, designed to keep track of their steps. At then end of the day your kiddies can log their figures in at a web site, and get prizes and certificates. So if you want to make sure that when you yell “Go out and play” that they are, you know, actually playing, perhaps you want to surf on over and check it out.
Full information below.
We were tired of seeing our children glued to their TV and computer screens and trying to think of ways to motivate our children to get up and get active. We decided that if children could convert their activity into points that could be redeemed for free stuff they might get motivated to turn off the tube, get off the couch and get outside to play. In a perfect world their treadmills would power their TV’s and Computers but that’s a whole other story.
GeoPalz introduces 12 new collectable designs every 3 months. Each design is intended to capture the user’s imagination and to wear it with pride. As we are launching mid-2010 there will be 24 designs for 2010 and 48 designs for every year thereafter. We will also introduce licensed GeoPalz in addition to our original designs.
In this version GeoPalz is a simple 2-D pedometer that tracks users steps throughout the day.The steps are then logged onto the GeoPalz website under their profile. Future versions will include activity trackers that do not require manual logins.
At the end of each day a user logs their steps into the GeoPalz website and the steps are then converted into miles/points that can be redeemed for all sorts ofphysical prizes that will be shipped to your home as well ascertificates that they can print and hang on their wall. Take the Tour
Coming Soon, GeoPalz will send an email to the parent with their child’s progress. We will include a graph to show how they are doing and if they are taking more or less steps on average. The emails will also feature “Did you know” data that you can use when dialoging with your child about the weeks progress. For example, at the dinner table you could say ”Did you know that you walked 28 miles this week? Did you know that’s from here to Denver? Good Job!“
There are 3 types of free things that will be featured on the website:
- Activity based andEducational products like Baseball Equipment, Hacky Sacks, Frisbees, Golf Equipment, Soccer Balls, games etc. Parents need only pay shipping and handling.
- Certificates that displays their achievement in the miles they have accumulated, how many days in a row they have logged steps, etc. These Certificates are printed and displayed on the fridge or wall at home.
- Location Based Sponsors(not to distant future) that want to give away prizes to GeoPalz users in their neighborhood. These prizes will automatically appear on a users prize wall if applicable.
We have one simple message of “walk to win” but there are many meanings depending on the lens of the reader. Walk to win to a child means they get more free stuff with every step they take, to a parent it means a healthier happier life for their family and to an educator it means finally having the ability to measure activity, in a schools district which could lead to federal funding once a critical mass of users is reached in each district. Learn More
