Play as Active Jazz…Riffing on Movement with Zamzee and the Play Lab

May13

By Cameron Yick

PlayLab

The Creation of the game Freezedisk

My name is Cameron, and I’m a senior in high school. I consider myself an active individual, as I’ve tried many sports through the years (soccer, lacrosse, and even skating!). My motivation stems from genuine enjoyment of physical activity, and I’m always looking for ways to help other people find that joy as well. Last spring, I researched the various “gamification” and “fitness logger” devices, most of which appeared to be targeted at adults. Zamzee was the first solution that appeared to target children. I wondered whether it would be motivating to teenagers too. Here’s what I’ve learned after using a meter for the past few months.

1.     Encourages physical activity

The benefits of increased physical activity cannot be overstated. Most people already know they need to move more, and yet have difficulty overcoming the inertia of being sedentary in school. Zamzee might be just the “kick” you need to start a new habit. Who doesn’t like getting recognition for their work (or play)?

I obtained a Zamzee meter at the same time a classmate who shared the meter with his sibling. He was blown away at her reaction the first evening with the meter. “It was like she ate a whole pack of Skittles candy!” She was running up and down the stairs with glee, re-plugging in the meter periodically to see how many points had been accumulated.

Although I don’t always plug the meter in daily, the meter stores data for up to a week so I can catch up on the weekends. However, the daily login bonuses give me incentive to plug in the meter every day during vacation periods. Continue reading →

Zamzee at Greenfield Hebrew Academy – we’re going to make it to A Million Minutes of Activity!

May7

By Sue Loubser, Director of Technology at Greenfield Hebrew Academy

This morning, when I looked at our Zamzee Program View, I saw we had passed 860,000 minutes as our middle school moves towards our goal of one million minutes of activity recorded on our students’ Zamzee meters. I took a few moments to reflect on our year. I am pretty sure we will reach our goal by the end of May – just before the end of our school year – which will be awesome.

Along the way, we have had a visit from Ellen LaPointe of Zamzee, CBS ‘Fit Kids’ did a segment on our program, the Hawks Development team came to exercise with us, and LaVon Mercer, the first African American basketball player to represent Israel came to talk to our students and play some basketball with them. It’s all been pretty cool.

We have also learned a lot along the way. Our most engaged users are our younger students and our teachers. We have a core group of students who are in a Zamzee routine, and who regularly do their 60 minutes or more each day. We have a core group of teachers who egg each other on to do Challenges while they work towards earning gift cards! It is not uncommon to see them hopping and bopping in the hallways during lunch or recess as they take their challenges.

GHA student Bella, also known as 13CantorB (with over 119,00 Pointz!) wears her Zamzee on her sandal in Israel.

GHA student Bella, also known as 13CantorB (with over 119,00 Pointz!) wears her Zamzee on her sandal in Israel.

Our students have also zamzeed (our new verb) around the world. Right now, we have students in Israel, measuring their activity as they walk and hike through Israel. (It is not uncommon for them to exercise over 120 minutes a day when they are not spending in time in a classroom). Students have walked in New York, run in Washington D.C. and they are looking forward to jumping at Jekyll Island, on our organized field trips. Our headmaster’s meter has accompanied him on many runs and a few marathons, including the Jerusalem Marathon. Continue reading →

Zamzee at Hill Middle School

Apr29

Zamzee_SchoolZamzee was designed to get kids moving. There are schools using Zamzee across the country, and we love hearing from program leaders about Zamzee’s impact.

Thanks to funding from the Cigna Foundation, Loretta Sander of the Chicago YMCA in Naperville, Illinois designed an after-school program at Hill Middle School using Zamzee to get a group of kids active. She’s working with Brad Sulkowski from Northern Illinois University and together they are doing great things. We recently interviewed her to find out how the program is going.

Zamzee: Thanks for taking some time to talk with us, Loretta! Can you tell us more about why you decided to use Zamzee at Hill Middle School?

Loretta: Absolutely! When I found out I was able to do a kids program with Zamzee, I knew right away that I wanted to work with middle school students. Middle school kids desperately need physical activity – exercise brings those positive endorphins that help middle school kids feel better about themselves and their life outlook. The problem is lots of kids don’t like being involved in big group activities like sports teams (my son included!). But just because some kids don’t participate in sports, that doesn’t mean that they should miss out on the benefits of exercise.

Zamzee: We totally agree. So what are the kids in your program doing to get active?

Loretta: We are doing a five-week program for fifteen 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Hill. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday after school to do cardio, calisthenics, circuit rotations and interval training. We use a room at Hill so the students don’t even have to travel anywhere. All students were given a Zamzee at the start of the program and have been using it all along to track their activity and (of course!) get rewards.

Zamzee: And how are the kids liking Zamzee?

Loretta: They love it! Actually, at the beginning, a lot of the initial draw for kids was that they could earn rewards with Zamzee – they love the gift cards. That made them want to work out and participate in the program. They think it’s pretty cool that they can earn these rewards on their own, without the help of Mom and Dad. It gives them a sense of empowerment, which is a great thing for kids at this age. And the more they started working out, the better their bodies felt. Continue reading →

Zamzee at St. John Nepomucene School

Apr23

By Linda Maly, St. John Nepomucene School
zamzee

Inquiring minds want to know…did we get our Zamz? That’s what the students in St. John’s kindergarten and first grade class wonder after every recess and activity break! Our Zamzee is a very important part of our daily routine, but how did that come about?

I am, yes, the kindergarten and first grade teacher at St. John Nepomucene School in Weston, Nebraska. I am also one of the program advisers for the Fuel Up to Play 60 program at our school.

I learned about Zamzee at the Fuel Up to Play 60 national summit last July. Each of the students and advisers attending received one as a gift. The students were convinced immediately as to how valuable and exciting a Zamzee could be. They found a computer, checked out the site, and were moving and racking up points quickly! “We can get prizes by just moving,” they said. I didn’t know how that could be true. I must say, I didn’t grasp the potential of this meter until I got it home and began using it myself. Then, I was hooked!

I started thinking about how I could use Zamzee with my students, and decided to include Zamzee as one of the jobs posted on our job chart. I called it being the “Zamzee Leader.” You know…we have a line leader, calendar helper, clean up crew helpers…and a Zamzee leader. The Zamzee leader is responsible for helping to choose a Challenge, taking the meter out for recesses, and doing his best to make sure the meter keeps moving. The leader can pass the meter off to a friend if he wants, but needs to bring it back to plug in after recess. Our Zamzee has been part of football games, tag around the jungle gym, swinging with friends, and leaf pile jumping! It’s even been lost beneath a leaf pile over night!

The students love being the Zamzee Leader! When I asked them why, the replies were numerous!

“You get to exercise, be healthy, and earn things,” said a first grader. Continue reading →

My Kids Would Make Excellent Vampires

Apr3

By Andrew Kardon from Mommy’s Busy… Go Ask Daddy

Zamzee_hiking

My kids would make excellent vampires. No, they don’t enjoy drinking blood; they just hate going outside.

Summer. Winter. Fall. Spring. Name your season and they’ll still whine and complain if you dare rip them from their cocoon and drag them outside.

My wife and I, on the other hand, love nature. Before we were married, we used to go on tons of nature walks, hiking in the woods for hours as we followed trail blaze after trail blaze. We’ve explored gorgeous (and freezing!) ice caves. We’ve even gone kayaking on the Hudson River with my parents.

Ironic then, that it’s one of nature’s cruel jokes which sees two nature lovers produce offspring that run as far away as they can from the outdoors. Yep, we love nature and hate that our kids hate it. So how are two nature-loving parents supposed to get our kids enjoying the outdoors? It’s certainly a challenge. Continue reading →

Zamzee Customer Service

Mar25

If you ever have a question or problem with your Zamzee, you can email zed@zamzee.com or call (855) 771 – 3148. Amy Shakoori usually acts as the Voice of Zed, and she meets some pretty great Zamzee users. Just check out her conversation with one of our users below.

Amy_Zed

Amy and Zed talk Justin Bieber in their downtime.

Hi Zed,

I think I have loved my Zamzee to death–literally. I am sad to report that my Zamzee passed away on Sunday. We had so many great adventures together. We played lacrosse, basketball, football, scootered and rode bikes together. My Zamzee did not survive our last adventure though–jumping on the trampoline. I am hoping to replace my Zamzee so that we can continue to have many fabulous adventures together. Would you pease let me know how to replace my dear Zamzee?

Thank you,

Ryan Continue reading →