 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Smart Cycle
- Plug and Play TV games
- Genre: Exergaming
Common Sense Media says
A video gaming system that works by bike-riding.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that while this gaming system is touted as encouraging kids to exercise, only two of the seven activities require the child to pedal. However, all the games are played while sitting on the bike and they are fun and age-appropriate. Kids can pedal even when the game is turned off. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that parents monitor and limit children to one to two hours of screen time a day.
What's it about?
SMART CYCLE aims to get kids moving by having them pedal a stationary bike as part of a video gaming experience. The pint-sized bike, which plugs into the A/V jacks of a television, has an adjustable seat and is just the right size for most children ages 3-6. The gaming system inside the bike runs on 4 D batteries; the software is housed in a key-shaped game cartridge that plugs into the side of the bike. The image on the screen looks like what you would see if you were riding down a road, and it moves forward and backward corresponding to your pedaling.
While pedaling to your first game, you're asked to collect letters, numbers, or shapes by steering toward them and running them over. Games include finding letters in a barn, helping a frog to flick out his tongue to collect letter bugs, and matching shapes underwater by popping bubbles. There's also a race that requires you to pedal as fast as you can to cross the finish line. Of seven activities, only two require you to pedal -- the rest use the joystick.
Is it any good?
While all these activities are fun and age-appropriate, kids would benefit from more pedaling as they play. Parents need to know that it takes 30 to 45 minutes to assemble the bike, and it uses up batteries fairly quickly. Also, while the educational games offer levels, the games don't save your work so kids must start at level one every time they play.
Parents can breathe new life into this system by buying additional game cartridges for $20 each. For ages 3-5, the choices are Discover the Dinosaurs, Dora the Explorer Friendship Adventure, and Diego's Animal Rescue. For ages 4-6, the selection includes SpongeBob SquarePants Ocean Adventure, Barbie Fairytopia, and Hot Wheels.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about how important it is to exercise. Do you like biking outside better than biking on a stationary bike? Which activity did you like best? The racing one? Or one of the other activities?
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AGE
this is so much fun
other than it being my baby brothers i had fun playing it with him!
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AGE
A Dud
Fisher price ruined my child's Christmas. This is the only thing my 3 year old wanted from Santa. On X-mas we put it together for him and it had a short (the lights would flicker and than go off). We exchanged at Toys R' Us where we bought it - whiched raised a lot of questions by our 6 year old twins since Santa brought it. Toys R' us did not even blink. Apparantly they had been slammed with Smart Cycle returns due to the same problem. The service counter was piled high with them. We thought that we would try another. This one did the same thing. We ended up just returning it and never bought another one. The employee said that they had gotten even more returned for the same reason. This toy is the biggest dud. I would not waste my money on it.
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| Platforms: | Plug and Play TV games |
| Available online? | Not available online |
| Genre: | Exergaming |
| Developer: | Fisher-Price |
| Release date: | June 1, 2007 |
| ESRB rating: | NR |
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