I chose to review the webkinz website, because it is one that my children have interacted with over the years as they received Webkins Pets as gifts. It was founded in 1950, by Sam Ganz and his two sons. This third generation family business has grown into an internationally recognized giftware and plush company, still owned and operated by the family.
In April 2005, Ganz launched the Webkinz World® site. Every Webkinz® pet comes with a secret code that is used to log into Webkinz World. Once there, children can feed and care for their virtual Webkinz™ pets, decorate and furnish rooms for their pets, enter challenges, play games and do odd jobs to earn KinzCash—the virtual currency which pays for food, clothing and treats.
The ongoing success of Webkinz pets and related merchandise has allowed the Ganz family to launch Webkinz Foundation, a charitable organization focused on supporting programs for children worldwide.
As I explored the site, it seems to be a safe site with the exception of the online chatting. I may be a little over protective, but I don't want my children chatting with people online that I don't know. It has some really neat parental controls that allows parents to control how long the children are online playing, but I didn't see a block for the chatting. It claims to have educational games, but not a large variety of educational games. The only educational games that I saw was spelling.
Young children would enjoy playing on this site, but I don't know much children would benefit from this site.
What an interesting site! I had heard of Webkinz and certainly seen them in stores, but I did not know the history of the company or how the Webkinz were used. I think that this would be a good site to use for good behavior or Fun Friday, I think the younger students would be motivated by this website.
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