Wednesday, May 11, 2011

TOS Crew Review: Go Trybe

One thing that I am a fan of, is getting kids, well everyone really, but especially kids up and active. In today's  world where kids spend most of their time behind a an electronic device of some sort.

So, I was very interested in seeing how Go Trybe was going to tackle getting kids active!! What is Go Trybe you ask?  Go Trybe is an online program that aims to not only teach children about nutrition and health, but to also encourage them to get off of their seats and onto their feet and get active. They do this with workout 'videos' that the child designs, and then use all right from their computer.

Here you can see some screen shots. This first one is where the child can select and 'drop' in what workout they would like to do.  As you can see, they have a warm up , cardio, strength and flexibility section.  When the child clicks in one of those areas, appropriate workouts pop up for them to choose from.


Here you see a shot of one of the workouts that can be chosen. This particular workout will build on basketball skills and it lasts 7 minutes. When I set up the workouts, they generally lasted approximately 20 - 25 minutes.

 


The next component of Go Trybe is education. In very small tidbits they 'feed' children one piece of information per day.  The child earns points for doing each of the daily activities, in which they can redeem to dress their personal avatar. They also have a discussion forum available.


Now, what are my thoughts about all they have offer...


I have mixed opinions of Go Trybe. In theory, I love the idea. I can see it as being beneficial if you live in an area where weather is poor most of the time, or if you live in an apartment, and do not have adequate outside play area for your children.  However, I do not believe that Go Trybe can compete with good ole playing outside in the fresh air!  My children are very athletic, so they would rather go shoot hoops in the back yard, or go the park, than do a workout video in front of the computer.


The videos themselves, are alright. Some were very typical looking exercise videos, while some we done in a classroom setting. There is a whole segment we as a family would not do, because we do not listen to hip hop music. In fact, a lot of the music in the background was not what we would have playing in our home.  However, if your family does not have those same guidelines, you would probably enjoy all of the workout videos.


The built in incentives of earning points to upgrade your avatar were of no interest to my children. In fact, we did not care for the voluptuous looking avatars. However, we did find a child looking one that we could use.


The informational tidbits, were just that. Not terribly in depth, and not always subject matter my children needed to learn about. For instance, anorexia.


All in all, I would give this product a C.  It did not work for our family, but it may work for yours!


Check out Go Trybe for free for one day by visiting their website.  Membership is $19.95 for one year.


Don't forget to checkout the crew blog to see what my crew mates have to say about Go Trybe.

No comments:

Post a Comment