If you spend most of your day hollering up the stairs to see if your kids have managed to a) brush their teeth, b) get dressed, c) tidy their rooms, or d) all of the above, you might need an Octopus watch.

What Is The Octopus Watch?

This new smartwatch, designed for kids, is the first of its kind.

The Octopus is an icon based watch that can help your kids keep track of the time. The watch’s inventors hope it will teach kids how to manage their time, and encourage them to develop good habits – and all without the need for the parental nagging we all despise.

The watch features a number of icons so your child can keep track of her daily activities. There are over 600 icons to choose from. The watch will remind her when it’s time to clean her teeth, feed the dog, or eat lunch, and so on.

The watch can also sync with your iPhone or android phone, and allow you to keep track of your child’s activities. The watch will vibrate and an icon reminder will appear at scheduled times throughout the day. Your child can then use the watch to mark tasks as complete, and the information will be sent through to your phone via bluetooth.

If your child struggles with transitions, you can use the watch to let her know when playtime is over. Instead of nagging your child to do tasks, the watch provides an interactive and fun way for her to get jobs done. The inventors believe the watch will be particularly useful to children with additional needs, as it can let them know what to expect in their daily routine.

What Age Group Is The Octopus Watch Designed For?

The Octopus is designed for three to eight year olds.

It aims to encourage independence as well as time management skills. The watch can actually ‘grow’ as your child’s skills increase. As your child masters reading, you can change the icons to text based reminders.

The watch can be used either as a digital or analogue watch, allowing your child to learn to tell the time. It’s also water resistant, so you don’t need to worry about it getting wet.

The watch’s inventors hope that this product will allow families to enjoy quality time together, instead of spending their days trapped in shouting matches over whether the playroom has been tidied. Children aren’t great time keepers and often require repeated prompts before they complete a task.

You can still allow time for plenty of unstructured play, but the watch allows you to schedule in the jobs which really need to be done. The Octopus will do the nagging for you, so you can focus your efforts on enjoying your children.

Joy, the company behind the Octopus watch, set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project. They were hoping to raise $50,000, but so far have raised more than ten times that amount.