Today we’re launching Gululu, a Tamagotchi-like interactive water bottle for children (and playful adults) that helps them stay hydrated. As kids drink water from the bottle, their virtual pet thrives and makes friends. It’s a great way for children to stay healthy while having fun. Key product features include: Healthy hydration: The Gululu app sets hydration goals based on your kid’s details. Game play and virtual pets then motivate your child to meet these goals. Technology meets wellbeing: smart hardware and integrated software, together with a cloud-based app, ensure that children stay healthy, and that parents stay informed. Learning through play: as your kid drinks water, their pet grows, collects treasures, and explores a world of adventure called “The Gululu Universe.” Shake two nearby bottles to make friends and play together. Safe and convenient: Gululu is designed for children 3 and up, and all materials are 100% BPA free and comply with FDA standards. It’s 100% waterproof and shockproof (IP 6/7). The battery lasts 4 days and charges wirelessly in just 2 hours. Compared to traditional water bottles and existing smart cups, Gululu lets kids interact and develop a connection with their animated pet. This is made possible thanks to patented interaction design that combines touch and motion sensors. Touching or shaking the bottle makes the virtual pet react by laughing, leaping, and playing. Ensuring that their kids drink enough water is a top health concern for every parent. According to the 2015 Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health study titled, “Prevalence of Inadequate Hydration Among US Children and Disparities by Gender and Race/Ethnicity: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2009–2012,” more than half of all children and adolescents in the U.S. are inadequately hydrated, and prone to headaches, irritability, diminished physical performance, and reduced cognitive functioning. The Gululu Interactive Bottle is now available for pre-order on Kickstarter for between $89 to $109 depending on the reward level. It will officially start shipping to the US, Canada, Asia and Europe after the Kickstarter campaign ends.

“Please let me know how and when I can buy these (Gululu). What a great gift these would make for so many of my friends.” –Gululu fan on Facebook Dear Gululu fan, and to all parents and gift-givers, We are so happy to hear that you love Gululu so much that many of you would like to give our products as gifts—hooray! Actually, while crafting our products, we always keep gifts in mind, but not the kind you wrap up with paper and ribbons. We are talking about priceless gifts! Here, parents are sharing the priceless gifts that are most important for kids. Learn what they think, and add your own. Below, we highlight some of the most inspiring priceless gifts that we keep in mind while crafting our kid-centered products. Healthy habits: Healthy habits lead to a healthy life. If we develop good habits early on, we can use them to boost our health, our esteem, and our energy. Model good habits to your children by drinking enough water, exercising together, and having consistent bedtime. Sometimes these habits can be difficult to keep, but by turning them into a game, they can help bond a family together. Imagination: Imagination gives us paintbrushes, broadens our palette of colors, and strips our canvas of its borders. How can we inspire more creativity in our kids and in ourselves? One way is through reading stories together and creating something new. Try adding your child as a character in your favorite picture book, or invite your child to create their own story. You’ll be amazed! Love: Unconditional love is a child’s birthright. Parents show their children love in different ways, but usually the more, the better. Don’t underestimate how much a hug, a conversation after school, a secret note in the lunchbox, or a kiss goodnight can mean for the little ones in your life. The best gifts are intangible. Priceless gifts like imagination, good habits and love can never get lost, and can be regifted again and again, even to your kids’ kids later on. The mission of Gululu is “wholehearted dedication to children’s wellbeing.” This sense of mission has moved us through difficulties along the way as we integrated technology, innovation and creativity. We hope that the endeavor to bring this product to life is priceless too. What do you think matters most to your children? Share a priceless gift that you love sharing with your child! Love, Team Gululu Wholehearted dedication to children’s wellbeing

Do you know your love language? Find out so you and your partner can build healthy habits in your children and avoid leaving gaps in their development. Do you know what your love language is? Surprisingly, what makes you feel most cared for is often not the same way that you express care for others. Our natural tendencies in giving and receiving love make a big impact over time, especially on the development of our children. Parents too reliant on one language tend to neglect others, leaving children lacking a full scope of affection. So which is your love language? And how can you build healthy habits in your children by embracing each of the five love languages on a regular basis? 1.Gifts-Health-oriented toys and products fulfill this need while helping children with their development. Parents tending toward this language express and receive love through gifts. A special, personal item says it all. Love through gift giving can nurture children by rewarding them with toys and products that cultivate healthy habit formation. Rather than a video game, a learning game or spelling game may be a better choice. In fact, all children relish toys and the companionship they bring. By embracing this love language, but giving health-forming toys to your children, you can fulfill this need for your little one.   2.Quality Time-Breakfast and evening traditions nurture this language while creating sustainable habits for child and family. If you and your partner tend to exchange love through time spent giving undivided attention, you can use this language with your children. One of the best ways to is through breakfast. Taking the steps to still the chaos of the morning, like waking up 15 minutes earlier, or preparing the night before, can make the shift from a rushed morning to a warm one. Likewise, taking a break from cells and laptops at night for dinner, a conversation, a board game, or even a show, teach your child that relationship with family and friends should sometimes takes priority.   3.Words of Affirmation-Along with compliments or praise, training positive outlook through words builds long-lasting confidence in your kids. Parents versed in this language use statements like “I love you,” and “I’m proud of you.” While absolutely necessary for children to hear, going beyond this is also crucial. It’s easy for children to get discouraged,especially as the world becomes more competitive. Life at school may not be as easy as it used to be. Children need to hear that they are okay not based on accomplishments but based on intrinsic qualities like kindness, positivity and perseverance. A statement like, “it makes your parents so happy to see you keep trying,” can make all the difference.   4.Acts of Service-Creating chores and ways to help others teach children healthy,long-lasting habits of service and participation. Parents who swoon when their partner does something practical for them and eases their burden best understand this love language. Most families have chores for children, and most children drag their feet to complete them. By bringing chores and community service into family rituals,through games and togetherness, you can signal to your kids that whole-hearted participation shows care to others. Likewise, making sure they know that you are helping them with laundry or homework because of your deep love teaches them gratitude and helps prevent them from taking you for granted.   5.Physical Touch-Choosing enjoyable physical activity and getting the family off the couch is crucial for long-term physical and mental health, as well as discipline. If you and your partner love to hold hands, smooch on the couch, and cuddle, it’s likely you are good at this language and at giving healing touch to your child. Even before a child speaks,they feel the love of their parents through physical touch. Roughhousing and play is very important to fulfill this need. Another great way is choosing sports and activities for the family to engage in together. Getting close on a picnic blanket, cuddling together with hot chocolate in a cabin in the winter, and even having a laugh circle where you lay your heads on each others’ bellies and tell jokes are all great options to fulfill this need. These languages, developed by Gary Chapman, PhD, in 1995, can enlighten parents and help kids grow up healthy and well rounded. Embrace the scope of these languages to ensure your children develop not only good habits, but also strong connections to many forms and expressions of love.

Mar 31 Technology & Innovation Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Healtyh, Boston, MA – More than half of all children and adolescents in the U.S. are not getting enough hydration—probably because they’re not drinking enough water—a situation that could have significant repercussions for their physical health and their cognitive and emotional functioning, according to the first national study of its kind from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study also found racial/ethnic and gender gaps in hydration status. Black children and adolescents were at higher risk of inadequate hydration than whites; boys were at higher risk than girls. “These findings are significant because they highlight a potential health issue that has not been given a whole lot of attention in the past,” said lead author Erica Kenney, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Chan School. “Even though for most of these kids this is not an immediate, dramatic health threat, this is an issue that could really be reducing quality of life and well-being for many, many children and youth.” Read Full Article Here. Reference: Dwyer, Marge. "Study Finds Inadequate Hydration among U.S. Children." News. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Web. 23 May 2016. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/study-finds-inadequate-hydration-among-u-s-children/

The Gululu Interactive Bottle uses advanced techonology and gamified content to ensure your child is healthy and hydrated. What Is Gamification? According to Wikipedia, Gamification is “the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts.” It's kind of like the games you probably played in your head as a kid where you'd task yourself with cleaning your room in under five minutes, or doing the dishes as quickly as possible, and then you’d get to have dessert. Basically, you complete a task, you get a reward. Applications in health: gamification working for you Applications like Fitocracy and QUENTIQ use gamification to encourage their users to exercise more effectively and improve their overall health. Users are awarded varying numbers of points for activities they perform in their workouts and gain levels based on points collected. Users can also complete quests (sets of related activities) and gain achievement badges for fitness milestones. A review of over 100 health apps in the apple app store reveal a positive correlation between gamification elements and high user ratings. Psychology of gamification: how it works To understand how gamification works we need a basic understanding of what happens in the brain when you're motivated. That means we'll need to talk about dopamine, which is the chemical signal that gets passed from one neuron to the next. We won't go into it too deeply here, but the basic premise is simple: your body releases dopamine when you experience pleasure. This pleasure includes all kinds of things, including rewards. How Gululu uses gamification While the concept of gamification may be simple, effectively gamifying a concept is not. To understand how the Gululu interactive bottle uses gamification to enhance hydration, you can simply follow our five-step process: 1. A key factor that determines the success is an understanding of who the user is. Our users are children between four and nine years old, specifically those who may be underhydrated. (study conducted by Harvard University).. 2. We should have goals for kids to achieve while drinking water. Drinking goals are defined according to children’s weight and lifestyle. 3. Stages and milestones are powerful tools that enable children to complete the drinking goals. Each pet has three growing stages, which count as central milestones in the game. We also have interval goals that differ every two hours, and everyday. 4. Once the milestones have been identified, we prepare the animation resources. 5. Game mechanics can be classified as self-elements and social-elements. Self-elements include pets’ growing stages and the amount of droplets and plants. Social-elements include social game triggering by shaking the bottle and shared drinking habit scores, with higher rankings rising to the top. References: Huang, Wendy; Soman, Dilip (December 10, 2013). A Practitioner’s Guide To Gamification Of Education http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/-/media/files/programs-and-areas/behavioural-economics/guidegamificationeducationdec2013.pdf Klosowski, Thorin. "The Psychology of Gamification: Can Apps Keep You Motivated?" Lifehacker. 2014. Web. 23 May 2016. http://lifehacker.com/the-psychology-of-gamification-can-apps-keep-you-motiv-1521754385 Miller, Tessa. "How to Harness Your Brain's Dopamine Supply and Increase Motivation." Lifehacker. 2014. Web. 23 May 2016. http://lifehacker.com/how-to-harnass-your-brains-dopamine-supply-and-increas-1496989326 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification