Encouragement stuffed plush toy

Abstract

A stuffed plush toy designed to give children words of encouragement designed to build confidence, motivate the child to want to achieve, cultivate self-reflection, self-awareness, self-love, and self-worth, create calming affects when feeling stressed promotes emotional, mental, social development, and coping skills during a crisis and provide reassurance and motivation that can help improve athletic performance.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . An encouragement apparatus comprising:
 a plush toy;   a speaker disposed within the plush toy;   an activation button disposed on the plush toy;   a memory storing a plurality of encouraging statements; and   a controller operatively connected to the speaker, the activation button, and the memory, wherein the controller is configured to:
 detect activation of the activation button; 
 select an encouraging statement from the plurality of encouraging statements stored in the memory; and 
 cause the speaker to audibly output the selected encouraging statement. 
   
     
     
         2 . The encouragement apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the plush toy is in the form of a teddy bear. 
     
     
         3 . The encouragement apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a microphone operatively connected to the controller, wherein the controller is further configured to:
 detect a voice command via the microphone; and   cause the speaker to audibly output the selected encouraging statement in response to detecting the voice command.   
     
     
         4 . The encouragement apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores background music, and wherein the controller is further configured to cause the speaker to audibly output the background music in combination with the selected encouraging statement. 
     
     
         5 . The encouragement apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a battery compartment accessible via a zipper on the plush toy. 
     
     
         6 . The encouragement apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the activation button is disposed within a portion of the plush toy. 
     
     
         7 . The encouragement apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of encouraging statements are personalized by including the word “you”. 
     
     
         8 . An encouragement system comprising:
 a plush toy;   an audio output device disposed within the plush toy;   an input device disposed on the plush toy;   a storage device storing a plurality of encouraging messages; and   a processor operatively connected to the audio output device, the input device, and the storage device, wherein the processor is configured to:
 detect activation of the input device; 
 retrieve an encouraging message from the plurality of encouraging messages stored in the storage device; and 
 control the audio output device to audibly play the retrieved encouraging message. 
   
     
     
         9 . The encouragement system of  claim 8 , wherein the plush toy is in the form of a stuffed animal. 
     
     
         10 . The encouragement system of  claim 8 , wherein the input device comprises a voice activation module, and wherein the processor is configured to detect activation of the input device by recognizing a predetermined voice command. 
     
     
         11 . The encouragement system of  claim 8 , wherein the storage device further stores background music, and wherein the processor is further configured to control the audio output device to audibly play the background music in combination with the retrieved encouraging message. 
     
     
         12 . The encouragement system of  claim 8 , further comprising a power source compartment accessible via an opening on the plush toy. 
     
     
         13 . The encouragement system of  claim 8 , wherein the input device is a button disposed within an appendage of the plush toy. 
     
     
         14 . The encouragement system of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of encouraging messages are personalized by including second-person pronouns. 
     
     
         15 . A method of providing encouragement, the method comprising:
 detecting, by a controller disposed within a plush toy, activation of an input device on the plush toy;   selecting, by the controller, an encouraging statement from a plurality of encouraging statements stored in a memory disposed within the plush toy; and   outputting, by a speaker disposed within the plush toy, an audible version of the selected encouraging statement.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein detecting activation of the input device comprises detecting a button press. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein detecting activation of the input device comprises recognizing a voice command via a microphone disposed within the plush toy. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising outputting, by the speaker, background music in combination with the audible version of the selected encouraging statement. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the plush toy is in the form of a teddy bear. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the encouraging statement is personalized by including the word “you”.