Jerry The Bear Helps Teach Children About Health
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Smart Teddy Bear helps children build healthy behaviors through play.
Teddy bears aren’t just for cuddling anymore.
Jerry the Bear, an interactive teddy bear, was developed by Sproutel in 2009 as a tool to help diabetic children build healthy behaviors through play. With an interactive portal, the bear challenges users to think about their body and how they see the world.
“Jerry helps sick kids not only learn about the procedures that are performed on them daily, but also empowers them to understand the importance of symptom-checking and self-care,” writes Mashable. Jerry has been successful in reaching 4 percent of children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2015 and has now been reformulated as a general health and wellness tool as well.
As the Jerry the Bear blog explains, “Between the ages of four and nine children are still forming the behaviors that they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives. Jerry the Bear is a friend, role model, and educator to help children learn about health and wellness through play!”
Co-founder Aaron Horowitz explains, “Our goal is to leverage the power of play to help children live happy and healthy lives. We call it play with purpose. In an age when toys teach kids about STEM, programming, reading, and more — Jerry is the first toy of its kind to help children understand their own bodies.”
Jerry possessed special super-powers that are revealed only to his owner and trusted best friend. According to the blog, “You’ll discover how to manage them and take care of Jerry through the portal he asked us to design just for you. We like to think of it as a blended-reality portal into Jerry’s world. He thinks that’s silly and wants to know when you can start playing and learning.”
The portal creates a blended reality experience and puts children in control of Jerry’s health. Through the portal they can feed Jerry, complete a scan inside his body, help him brush his teeth, check on his mood, and much more. Jerry “helps kids build the emotional intelligence and vocabulary they need to communicate their feelings; reinforces the fundamentals of nutrition, healthy food choices and meal planning; and allows children to learn through discovery, teaching basic bodily functions.”
Jerry the Bear even made a special trip to the White House in August where he was introduced to President Obama and awarded a Phase 1SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).