The Story
By Carrie Scheiner, Founder of Exploramania®
If someone told me a few years ago that I
would be creating an educational exercise
video for children once my kids were in
elementary school, I would've said they
were crazy.
So, how did we get to
Exploramania®
and the first video,
Gymathtics®?
It is a story of passions, dreams and
overcoming obstacles, and the incredible
support from my amazing husband, Adam.
The Inspiration
The first smile, the first step -
you wake up and they are in
pre-school, you blink
and they are in elementary school.
As my children, Aaron and Felicia,
entered elementary
school, it became clear there were
fewer outlets for their high
energy and creative expression. Both
my children are passionate about
learning and love school. Aaron
especially is a highly energetic and
active child.
When they returned home from elementary
school, my children's interests shifted
to TV programs and computer games with
minimal educational content. The choices
for organized programs outside of
school for physical activity seemed to
change to just sports or dance and tutoring
for educational options.
Kids need opportunities for educational
and physical activities both during and
after school that are fun and benefit
their bodies and brains.
Another incident, which was one of the
major pushes for
Exploramania®,
was when Aaron told me he watched a
cartoon at school because it was raining
and his class could not go outside.
The Dream and Overcoming Obstacles
Just before Felicia entered school
full-time, Adam and I participated
in a seminar called Maui
Mastermind®.
The leader, David Finkel, and the
guest speaker, Elizabeth Kanna, both
spoke about stretching your mind to
create BIG dreams, finding your passions
and understanding your unique talents.
As I moved into the next phase
of my life, I wanted to return to my
passions for helping children and math
education. How could I use
my unique talents of product development
and planning to fuel my passions and
create a BIG dream?
The brainstorming began and
Exploramania®
was born. The vision of helping children
learn through fun interactive experiences
grew into the first series and product,
Exploracise®
Gymathtics®.
I wanted to create products that synthesize
education and a healthy lifestyle, beginning
with my passion for math education.
However, I have never made a movie and
never created an exercise program. An even
bigger obstacle was that I have an
autoimmune disease that creates joint
and muscle pain that could've been a major
obstacle in creating a children's exercise video.
I moved forward and worked with an amazing
video production company, VHVIDEO.com,
who helped provide some initial direction
in creating the movie. I was also lucky
that my friend and neighbor Joanne, who
lives across the street from me, is an
expert in the fitness industry. When Joanne
and I first met to create the routine, I did
not know what bpm (beats per minute) meant
and she was not sure about a quadrilateral.
Yet together we began creating a kids
workout that will help so many children.
Under physician supervision, we developed,
practiced and taped the exercise routine.
As I exercised to practice and create the
program, the extra exercise made my body
feel better instead of worse. Again,
knowing my medical issues, I would have told
someone they were crazy to think I would
create an exercise video for kids. But,
I visualized my dream and succeeded by
overcoming my biggest obstacle and believing
that no obstacle would get in my way.
I hope my story shows others that you can
reach for your dreams and achieve them when
you put your mind to it.
