Garmin and Disney team up to create activity trackers for kids

Garmin Australia announced the vívofit jr. 2 an activity tracker for kids in partnership with Disney.

The tracker will feature Star Wars and Marvel-themed bands and mobile app adventures.

Featuring designs of kids' favourite characters including Minnie Mouse, BB-8TM and Marvel Avengers, each band theme offers a corresponding mobile app adventure where children can complete missions to advance in the journey and unlock new character step icons.

This aims to be an exciting collaboration that leverages kids' favourite characters, encouraging children to be active, and ultimately shaping habits for lifelong health and fitness.

Cliff Pemble, Garmin CEO says, "The vívofit jr. 2 is all about making fitness fun for kids, instilling at a young age the joy of leading an active lifestyle.

"We are honoured to team up in such a unique way with Disney, tapping into the brilliance of their creative storytelling experts.

"Through collaborating across the brands of Disney, Star Wars and Marvel and infusing their characters and stories into our product and mobile app, we're able to offer kids and their parents a gamified approach to fitness like no other.

Disney says it is committed to creating healthier generations, and that they have worked with Garmin to make healthy living fun with a wearable product featuring the characters and stories they know kids love.

Designed for comfort and 24/7 wearability, this swim-friendly activity tracker features a customisable colour screen, a one-year battery life and comes with one of two kid-tough band options: a stretchy band for smaller wrists or an adjustable band for older kids.

The always-on colour screen shows the time, the date, and even reminds kids to stay active with a move bar.

In addition to tracking steps and sleep, the device measures active minutes, inspiring kids to meet the recommended 60 minutes of daily activity.

Once this 60-minute goal is reached, kids can advance in new adventures, motivating them to do their best.

Completing fitness goals also allows kids to unlock new character step icons, such as Minnie Mouse, BB-8, and Iron Man, which can be customised on the band display.

The Toe-to-Toe step challenge encourages friendly competition, letting kids initiate timed step competitions with their nearby friends who also sport a vívofit jr. 2 device.

The vívofit jr. 2 experience comes to life with the free companion app, managed by parents, and each band design comes with a corresponding Disney, Star Wars or Marvel mobile app adventure.

From this app, parents can review their children's daily activities and even assign chores which show up as icons on the device, perfect for kids who need reminders.

For kids who tend to procrastinate, schedule alerts can be set up to nudge them to finish their homework or brush their teeth.

Kids can use the task timer on the device so that they know how long they have left for each chore.

The app allows for multiple profiles so parents and siblings with compatible Garmin devices can also have their steps listed on the step leaderboard, promoting healthy competition for the whole family.