A Smart Cycle??

Hey all…

We came across the Fisher Price Smart Cycle while we were shopping for Christmas this past year and decided not to go with it because our then 6 (now 7) year old was a bit too big for it and would feel left out while her 3 year old sister played with it. However, even with that, it’s won several Toy Industry Awards this year, including Most Innovative Product and Educational Toy of the Year, which is pretty darned cool. This group has very high standards for educational toys and is one to watch.

This cool gadget does two things… It gets the kids moving, but also gets them some of the TV time that kids today seem to demand more and more (not that the demands work at our house because most kid’s TV is kind of mindless, but hey). Anything that gets kids moving AND allows them to have fun is ok in my book. At its most basic level it’s a bike attached to a video game. Pretty simple. And not bad for $100 or less.

You can now buy additional software products for it too, including games for:

• Hot Wheels game
• Spongebob
• Dora and Diego
• Barbie
• and Dinosaurs…

The software seems to go for $20-40 a game, which is a bit high considering the cost of the cycle. But it does have choices for the kids in popular characters.

One of the complaints I’ve seen is that it doesn’t remember specific users of the game, which means that if you have three kids playing on it, they all have to start in the same place (the beginning) every time, playing through the whole thing again. But for younger kids (3-4) I bet this is probably not a bad thing, as it gets them going with the easy stuff and as they get better, it gets harder every time they play.

So this looks pretty cool. It’s Fisher Price, so it should be built to last. And it looks like it’s expandable which is always a good thing!

Let me know if you pick one up!

–Fitz

Fisher-Price Smart Cycle


Smart Cycle™ Hot Wheels Software


Smart Cycle™ Ocean Sponge Bob Software


Smart Cycle™ Dora Software