Tricycles are a great way for children to enjoy cycling safely, but don’t always prepare kids for a real bike. The Dreisch Leaning Trike mimics an actual bike with the same kind of necessary leaning for turns, but still has three wheels. With this trike, young ones can ride safe while also developing the necessary skills to learn the fundamentals of bicycle riding. While not completely necessary, the Dreisch Leaning Trike has a noble aim and is a great tool for children, much like the Jyrobike. One Dreisch Trike costs $299 on Kickstarter with estimated delivery in September 2014. This leaning trike hopes to raise $10,000 in two months.
Category: Kids/Babies
Getting kids to unplug from their devices and go outside or study is one of the great struggles of the 21st century. Existing blocking or limiting solutions are inflexible and often require a parent on call in order to work correctly. Kudoso is a special router or firmware for existing routers that can be set up to track kids’ activities and reward them with access to their favorite websites and devices. With integration with Khan Academy educational material, kids can even agree to do some extracurricular studying in order to earn the points necessary to play video games or watch streaming TV shows. Access to Kudoso will open to backers in August and is available to those who pledge $89.
For parents, keeping an eye on their kids at all times is a must. With the HERA wrist watch, it’s always possible to keep tabs on your child to maintain their safety. This product features GPS, a speaker and microphone so that kids can call pre-programmed numbers or be reached by the same numbers. We’ve seen many of these products recently, like the Safelet bracelet and Tinitell watch. One HERA costs backers a donation of $160 for delivery in December 2014. HERA hopes to raise a huge $500,000 in its month and a half-long Indiegogo campaign.
It takes time, can be painful to sensitive gums, and is just plain boring. So goes the argument against flossing. That’s why Gummy Floss decided to add a string of color and a few lines of flavor to motivate kids (and adults) to floss and brush daily. Medical grade silicone rubber makes for a soft, smooth and flexible floss that reduces bleeding and is more comfortable. For $15, backers get two bags of Gummy Floss, which equals 20 gummies.
The Premise. As summer approaches, there are dangers that we must deal with that are related to heat. Cars heat up extremely quickly when left out in the sun. Many parents absentmindedly leave their children behind in hot cars, resulting in dangerous conditions for the child.
The Product. Babeep is an alert device that reminds parents, guardians and babysitters to check their cars before locking up and walking away. This Israeli product plugs directly into the car’s outlet and even has a USB port on the side for charging phones. When the car starts, the Babeep flashes green. When the car is turned off, it flashes red and plays a prerecorded baby sound to remind the driver that a baby is onboard.
The Pitch. Babeep’s campaign is riddled with terrifying facts of child neglect and death rates. It even features a news story of one such incident. The campaign video shows a dramatization of this occurrence that makes the vignettea little bit more horror than informational. Still, the campaign does a great job in creating a sense of urgency for this product in parents and guardians. Babeep is looking to raise a huge $300,000 in its month and a half long Indiegogo campaign.
The Perks. Early backers will receive the Babeep for $35 or $38 at a regular price. Higher tiers offer multi packages for families with several cars. The highest tier at $15,000 promises to donate 500 Babeeps to new moms in hospitals across the country. Lower tiers have an estimated delivery date of March 2015.
The Potential. As the campaign explains, there are several ways that parents have tried to battle the leaving-the-kid-in-the-car problem, but none are effective when the driver is distracted. Some are simply tags that the parent is supposed to remember to use, like the Baby Bee Safe, but how is a parent going to remember a piece of plastic if they can’t remember their own kid? Others are more high tech like the ChildMinder which senses if a child is in the back and then beeps if the child separated by the parent by more than 15 feet. The Babeep seems to be the simplest, most effective of these options. It requires little action and works automatically which is perfect for the kind of parent or guardian who might accidentally leave their child behind.
The Premise. Children play with toys to learn fundamental skills they will need later in life. Building toys are particularly beneficial for kids, teaching them rules about structure and space.
The Product. XYZ is a building toy comprised of squares that interlock together at their edges. They come in different colors and are large enough to easily create a life-size structure. Made of a recyclable material, these blocks are not only environmentally friendly, but also extremely strong. Part of the campaign features a creator standing on a four tile block with ease.
The Pitch. The campaign video for XYZ shows a few of the hundreds upon hundreds of ways that the tiles can be used. It shows the versatility of the product featuring smaller structures like laptop platforms or larger products like robots. The rest of the campaign goes into XYZ’s backstory of how the idea was conceived during a university project. This London-made product hopes to raise £30,000 in a 30-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Perks. For an early £20 or regular £25, backers can enjoy the basic cube kit which comes with six tiles. Different tiers offer different amounts of tiles. The Designers pack comes with 50 tiles of different colors for £50 early or £60 regularly. Higher tiers offer tiles that glow in the dark and change color. The highest tier of £500 give backers enough tiles to make a robot. All tiers have estimated delivery set in September 2014.
The Potential. The toy building market has seen numerous products looking for crowd funding recently. These products will either use three-dimensional blocks like CubeCraft and Snaak or will use a series of connectors, such as Strawbees. XYZ is unique in that it uses flat tiles which may not allow for the most elaborate of creations, but does allow for functional objects, such as the laptop stand. It also has potential for making larger structures, allowing children to really let their imaginations run wild in building forts for them to play inside of. All in all, this flatter product offers a new shape to the somewhat crowded toy building market.
Feeding baby on the go has become as easy as turning a dial to a downward position. The EasyGo Dispenser lets busy parents stash power formula in a container so that the daycare center or caregiver can dispense exactly the right amount into a baby bottle full of water. The dispenser works with most of the popular brands on the market, and can later be disassembled into four parts that are dishwasher safe. For $25, backers get one product with an expected delivery of August 2014.
The Premise. Young children face fear, injury and anxiety when attempting to learn how to ride a bike. For some, it’s natural and for others it can take a long time. Children with disabilities also struggle with the delicate movement and balance needed to learn to ride a bicycle.
The Product. The Jyrobike takes the uncertainty out of elementary bicycle riding. Coming in two different sizes, the front wheel of the bike use stabilizer technology so that the bike will not tip over, much like Weebles. The wheels have three settings. On the highest setting, the bike is its most stable and then becomes less stable with the other two settings so that when the child feels comfortable, he or she can ride on their own without assistance. The wheel charges with a microUSB and also has a speaker that provides fun sounds during the ride. A wireless remote allows parents to adjust settings while the child rides so that they’ll learn to balance on their own.
The Pitch. Jyrobike’s lengthy campaign video shows the bike in action with small and handicapped children and even shows the bike riding upright on its own to display its stability. The creators talk about the physics of bike, explaining how it works and go through the different features of their reinvented wheel. Jyrobike is striving for a $100,000 goal in a 30-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Perks. Early backers will receive the 12” wheel and wireless controller so that they can turn their own bikes into a Jyrobike for $129 or, later, just the wheel for the same price. The 16” wheel and controller go for $149 early or regularly at the same price for just the wheel. For $249, early backers get the 12” bike and wireless controller or, when the early prices run out, just the bike for the same price. Similarly, the 16” bike and controller cost $299 early or the same price for just the bike later. Reward tiers go all the way up to $5,000 with delivery set for January 2015.
The Potential. Plenty of children have learned to ride their bikes without this product. However, the thought of avoiding fear and injury is certainly appealing to both children and parents. The coolest thing about this product is perhaps its potential to help older children with disabilities. It provides the bridge needed to get over the daunting beginning phases of learning in order to really begin to enjoy cycling. Jyrobike’s intentions are noble and it definitely has a place on the market for safety-obsessed parents and clumsy children alike.
In earlier decades, it was common for children to go off on their own and explore the neighborhood on adventures. Many parents still want to preserve that freedom, but still want a way to keep tabs on their kids. In the tradition of recent crowdfunding efforts HereO and Tinitell comes Kidswatcher. Children can wear a stylish, waterproof digital watch that parents can scan into their phone using an app and a QR code on the interior of each watch. The watch can report on the child’s location outdoors using GSM networks and indoors by using Wi-Fi. Parents can even send a buzz to the children’s watch which they can acknowledge, or alert social media and the police in case of emergency. The Kidswatcher will launch in December for €149, but can also be pre-ordered on a trial basis.
Kids have a nasty habit of wandering off at the worst of times. There’s nothing scarier than realizing your child is not where you thought he or she was. The 1Decision Bracelet offers safety and security for your child out in public. One bracelet is worn by the child and the other by the parent. As the fearmongering campaign video shows, it is programmable so that when the bracelets are out of a predetermined range from one another, the parent’s will vibrate alerting them that the child has begun to wander off. Unlike GPS bracelets and watches, however, it doesn’t provide any clue on how to find them once they;re out of view. One set of bracelets costs an early donation of $55 or a regular donation of $75 for delivery in October 2014. The 1Decision Bracelet hopes to raise $65,000 in a 40-day Indiegogo campaign.