Computer time is much enjoyed around our house by my nine- and seven-year old sons. They’ve graduated from the Bob the Builder games I bought them years ago to Webkinz for the past few years to miniclip these days.
My three-year old daughter has been watching them for a while, anxious to start playing games of her own. Not having a lot of time (or energy) to seek out the highly educational and stimulating sites that I would have for my eldest (ahem), the only site I’d found that had appropriate stuff was TreehouseTV. While the games were fine and the characters accessible, frankly we were all getting tired of Dora’s voice around our house.
The timing couldn’t have been better for the people at Ganz to let me know about their newest line…Webkinz Jr. Those of you familiar with Webkinz, which launched in 2006, know that children adopt a stuffed animal and enter its secret code on the Webkinz site to unleash a virtual communty of fun and games. These babies were aimed at the six- to ten-year old set, and have been a standard birthday gift around these parts for many seasons. I’ve lost count of the number of pets in our home.
Webkinz Jr. is the same idea, but it’s a virtual world of learning and fun for kids aged three to six. The plush pets are larger and softer than the original Webkinz (and a little more expensive with a $28 price tag), and come in six varieties right now with everything from our Orange Kitten to a Purple Monkey.
Once the animal has been adopted, children are welcomed into a virtual communty where they can play age-appropriate activities, visit and decorate their pet’s home and explore the rest of the neighbourhood.
Parents have a special area all for themselves where they can get detailed reports on their child’s progress through the site and additional learn at home activities.
The first time we logged on I left my daughter and her brother to find their way around all on their own, and they spent almost an hour giggling and playing together. Heaven! Webkinz Jr. gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from my daughter (the obvious target market).
While it’s not the most educational product I’ve ever purchased, I’m happy to introduce computer time to her in this very “soft” way.
New Webkinz Games
Found an interesting search engine for kids. Might help if you look for toys, games, cheats, tips, news or even auctions for favourite toys like Webkinz, ToyRUs, Brio, Fisher-Price and so on…