An afternoon spent playing on a smartphone or tablet isn't exactly the most healthiest way for a kid to spend their free time—but at this point mobile devices are a part of life and aren't going away. So a few enterprising folks came up with a clever over-sized clip called the Hybrid Play, that attaches to moving playground equipment and turns swings and teeter-totters into interactive game controllers. Kids don't have to give up their mobile games while ensuring they stay active enough to live past 35.
Powered by an Arduino, the hardware inside the Hybrid Play is the same guts that allow your smartphone to detect how you're holding it and moving: a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and Bluetooth so it can talk to a mobile device. And the games don't only encourage kids to get off the couch, they also help teach teamwork as one child encourages others to swing higher to reach a goal, or spin faster to rack up more points.
The Hybrid Play's creators are using Indiegogo to help make their creation a reality, and a contribution of $100 gets you an early bird unit once they (hopefully) start shipping in April of next year, and help gets the team closer to their $140,000 funding goal. But if you're handy with a soldering gun, a donation of just $14 gets you just the Hybrid Play schematics so you can build your own, and get your kids out of the house as early as February. [Hybrid Play]