Houston mom creates teddy bears that teach children English and Spanish
HOUSTON,Texas (KTRK) -- A single mom has created a line of cuddly teddy bears that are teaching kids as young as a year old about colors, numbers and the alphabet in both English and Spanish.
"My journey started back when [my daughter] Tori was one year old," said Tameka Maiden, the creator of Cubby Love Bears. "I was trying to teach her colors in English and Spanish, and just couldn't get it."
After this, Maiden had the passion to bring her idea to life.
She embedded a voice box in bears to speak English and Spanish, color coding them and bridging the language gap for children.
"The age group that I would usually focus [on] is when they first start talking," Maiden said. "Research states, as the brain starts developing, the kids are able to learn and pick up things easily."
The set comes with four bears that teach primary colors and each comes with its own bilingual books for $64.99.
"I can take them everywhere," said Maiden's daughter Tori. "I can take them to the grocery stores and Walmart [and] H-E-B."
There's the yellow "Yancy" bear that teaches the days of the week and all the months.
"Ory" the orange bear teaches the alphabet and numbers in both English and Spanish. Each bear is $24.99.
"All they do is press the symbol and it speaks for them," Maiden explained.
For example, children can push a button on the bear and it can let parents know when they need to use the restroom.
This concept caught the attention of Houston Rapper Trae Tha Truth. He has a son with autism and they were able to come up with a creative way to ease the frustrations of nonverbal children with autism.
"A lot of problems that we have is communicating," said the rapper. "We may think they [are] hungry or sleepy. With the bear, they can touch a certain part, that way we don't put them through the frustration. It's majorly needed across the world."
'U-Neek the Gifted Bear' will be available online March 1 for $34.99.
For more information, visit Cubbylovebears.com.
