William Georges was never OK with the average teddy bear. He thought the stuffing and fur just weren’t enough for children.
At the tender age of 6, William came up with an idea has since become Creative Child magazine’s Toy of the Year: the PeZo Pal.
The interactive teddy bear features an MP3 player inside it that can play music and stories by touching its ear or paw or stomach.
“It’s magical because it looks like a bear, but it interacts,” the now 11-year-old said recently while patting the PeZo bear in his lap.
Click here to watch a video about PeZo Pals
The 12-inch stuffed animal’s MP3 player greets users with voiceovers created by William to give the bear a warm personality.
Turn the bear on and be greeted by William’s voice saying, “Oh, hello there. So glad you got a Pezo Pal.”
Lay it on its back and the bear will say it’s nap time and start playing soothing music. Flip it onto its side and a poem written and recorded by William is heard.
“It doesn‘t just interact with children, it can be educational,” said William’s mother, Alex Georges.
William and his mother live in Boca Raton, but vacation regularly in Santa Rosa Beach.
The pair said they worked on the bear’s design and looked to find a company to help bring it to life for more than four years. In the final stages, they said they saw a black bear cub cross a road in Santa Rosa Beach.
“We were looking at different fur for the bear, and when we saw the little cub we decided we wanted to make it look like the actual bear,” William said.
The Pezo Pal speaks 12 languages and can store up to 24 hours of material. Additional sound bites can be put on it, from music to personal audios that can be created on the bear’s website. That was especially important to the family, who understand how soothing a traveling or deployed parent’s voice can be for children.
“On the phone you don’t get that feeling like they’re there,” William said. “When it’s on the bear, you feel like someone’s talking to you.”
The bear costs $99.98. It can be found online at Amazon.com and PeZoPal.com, and in select stores in South Florida and Georgia.
William, a fifth-grader who hopes to see his toy on shelves in stores across the country, said he’s not settled on the idea of working in the toy industry when he grows up. However, he said he has a few more ideas up his sleeve.
“I’m waiting on the patent before I tell anybody,” he said, smiling.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.