Pro Jason West & His Kids Battle Through Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Spartan Kids Challenge—The Epic All-Family Spartan Mission
In partnership with DreamWorks Animation
What’s one way to entertain your kids during the pandemic? Find a field, grab your family and crush a bunch of cardio and bodyweight challenges, like Spartan Pro Jason West, duh!
By now, you’ve heard of the Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Spartan Kids Challenge. But just in case, here’s the quick recap: we partnered DreamWorks Animation to co-created Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Spartan Kids Challenge, a free, virtual fitness adventure for kids ages four to 14. Through a series of challenges (dubbed missions), your kids delve into parallel worlds of OCR and Jurassic World to push their limits, break a sweat and have a blast. Guaranteed. Watch the leaderboard for real-time rankings, earn points by completing missions and score prizes when they do. No app downloads necessary, just snag a Spartan login and get going. (Plus, you’ll be stoked knowing they’re off the couch and video-game free.)
An active lifestyle, especially for kids whose brains are still developing, not only builds stamina, grit, endurance and strength, but also improves memory function (hint: better grades and happier attitudes!). To that end, we asked West, passionate Spartan and father of three, who regularly works out with his daughter Dora, 12, son Liam, seven, and even six-month-old nugget Aria (think: baby single-leg squats!) to give Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Spartan Kids Challenge a whirl. Burpee battles, stacked planks, a makeshift backyard OCR and a chance for a little family-fun rivalry? The Wests were all for it.
“Staying active during these tough times and keeping the kids engaged with new challenges and adventures has been a key in staying strong and focused on the fact that life has not stopped,” says West, who’s wife delivered their third child two weeks after the first lockdown, and 12 days before they moved to a new home. “A lack of structure each day and a lack of stress-relieving activities will certainly drive a family crazy, so we’ve done our best to try everything from roller skates to trick bikes in order to keep the interest high.”
As part of their Spartan homework, we asked West to share how his family prepared for week one of the Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Spartan Kids Challenge. From a “floor-is-lava obstacle course to butt kicks and dad drags, they took their training to the next level. Check out his Covid-friendly workout here to snag ideas to get your kids off their devices and moving outside. Plus, read on for his highlights while tackling the challenge on week one to get inspired and juice-up your family fun NOW.
Try the West Family Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Spartan Kids Challenge Ultimate Workout
Q&A With Spartan Pro Jason West on All-Things Jurassic + Parenting with Style in a Pandemic
SPARTAN RACE: What was your favorite part of the Spartan Kids Challenge so far? What did your kids love about it?
JASON WEST: The best part about the challenge is that all of the thinking is done for the parents. The challenges are there, easy to set up, easy to execute and easy to scale. Participating as a parent means I can be as wild as I want, and the kids love it. They have also been highly engaged in setting them up! When I mentioned we would be doing “Floor Is Lava” (Week 1, Mission 5), their eyes lit up and they were probably more excited building the course than actually running it. Wearing a mask to add props to the challenges makes everything way more fun as well. Week 1, Mission 6 “Raptor Chase” ended up causing so much laughter that our stomachs hurt because I was a mess trying to chase them while wearing a large chicken head.
SR: What are some of your pro tips for parents who have kids glued to devices and under unusual school pressures from Covid-19 protocols to keep them active?
JW: Children are motivated by fun and novelty, not by the results of hard work. A child will be active as long as the activity brings immediate gratification or is something completely out of the ordinary. For younger kids, this could be as simple as asking if they want to imitate dinosaurs or see if we can run as fast as a raptor. The older kids require a bit more persuasion, but I’ve found if everyone is doing it, they’ll want to do it too. (Hint, hint: get the neighbor kids and their friends involved if you feel they’re Covid safe.)
SR: What's one surprising thing you learned about yourself (and your kids) in doing Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Spartan Kids Challenge?
JW: I learned that my kids are inspired more by setting up the challenges and creating things (e.g. courses, games, videos, content) than they are actually doing them. It’s a really interesting dynamic that we will try to capitalize on in the future.
SR: Why is your workout perfect to support the challenge? What makes it special, fun and doable for all ages?
JW: The best part about this workout is that it can be done by anyone with very limited equipment and doesn’t actually require anything considered by a kid to be an “exercise”. Active play is the name of the game.
SR: Do the kids want to continue with the missions? Are they hooked yet?
JW: We will absolutely continue the challenges. The kids can’t wait to see what Spartan comes up with next three weeks!
Jurassic World franchise © Universal City Studios LLC and Amblin Entertainment, Inc. TV Series © DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.
