PBS Kids: a site for fun and learning

PBS kids is a popular channel for kid's television shows. PBSkids.org is a great site that builds on fundamentals that are taught in their shows. For each show, their is a fun and educational game and video. Kids are not required to have an e-mail address or profile; they are allowed to simply watch videos and have fun. These games show kids how to recognize shapes, words, and numbers.This Curious George game helps kids to recognize simple shapes while having fun finding holiday presents with their favorite cartoon character.

The short movies children can watch are fun and educational. They are also completely child appropriate. This is a short clip that goes along with the Curious George game pictured above.

In this movie The Man in the Yellow Hat helps George find the perfect present for all of his friends. Not only does PBS kids.org have games and movies about Curious George, but they also feature other beloved childhood characters like Clifford the Big Red Dog and Elmo from Sesame St. This site is completely age appropriate and educational. However, I feel that kids would have a great time while learning because they get to play with their favorite television characters. This is an all-around fun and age appropriate kid site and therefor, earns a 9 out of 10.

Ninja Kiwi

I reviewed Ninja Kiwi so kids could see if it was alright to play on it. I found many great games for kids to play. There are a few games that i gave a ten out of ten. Most of them came from the 'Bloons' series. My favorite of these was Bloons Tower Defense Four. Basically you put monkeys out that do different things to pop balloons. You can also get upgrades for the monkeys to pop them faster and to pop more of them. But, if you start playing you may not stop because it is very addicting. There were many other fun games to play, but I do not think that kids under thirteen should play on this site. One reason is that if you look at the second picture, you will see a girl in nothing but a bra and some panties. I thought it was pretty bad to have on a kid's gaming website. There were a few other things that made this site not appropriate for kids under the age of thirteen. One of the major things is that some of the 'action' games were not appropriate for some kids. I did not check them out because I could tell by the way that it looked that it was not suitable for younger kids. I do not recommend this site for kids under the age of thirteen.

Club Penguin is a kids social site, presented by Disney. In club penguin kids get to make there own penguin and dress them up. Once the kids sign up, there parents get an email, to read the terms and conditions, and once the parents agree to the terms and conditions the child's penguin is activated. They can play games and chat with people all over the world.

You can play many games on Club Penguin. You can play any game you think of. In every building that you go in has multiple games that you can play. Some of these games lets you play with other people. One of my personal favorites on the game is Go Surfing. In this you can take your penguin surfing, and after your run you get points so you can buy clothes, pets, and gear.




Other feature on Club Penguin is chatting. You can travel the penguin world, and chat with all different penguins around the world. This lets children talk with each other, and to become friends. When you are chatting, if you say a bad word, or any thing insulting, you will be kicked off immediately. This is a good feature, because this way children will have better netiquette, learn not to use inappropriate words, and have better sportsmanship.

Overall ranking: 9 out of 10

Chamber of Chat

Chamber of Chat is a social network site that is based on the Harry Potter series. When you sign in for an account you just put in your email address and screen name and password. The site says that you have to be at least thirteen years of age, but this does not stop younger kids from getting on the site. The confirmation email usually takes up to one day until you receive it. When you finally accept the confirmation email you are able to start playing. The characters are Hogwarts students. You are able to move around with a portkey. When you choose which place you would like to go to, you are able to chat with the people there. You are able to say what you want but some words get you put in the dungeon tower for a minute. I know this is not the best punishment for saying a bad word. After being released from the dungeon you are able to go back to the place you were. I am concerned about the chat because people ask other people where they live and how old they are. This could be a concern for many parents whose children do not realize the threat of predators. I do not think that this is a site for young kids because it talks about magic and some parents are not wanting their child to know about that kind of stuff. Overall this site was fun, but confusing at the same time. Harry Potter fans would love this site, but it is still not very suitable for young kids. I would rate this site to be a five out of ten. I gave it this score determined on how fun, safe, and educational this site was.

Girlsense: Good to Go

Girlsense is a website for girls. It is fun and inspires creativity when you create your own clothing, botiques, and models.

This is the botique I created. The botique creater is very easy to use and fun. However, you are allowed to have "human" models in your botique. These models where underwear until you dress them in you outfits you have ceated. Despite this Girlsense is very appropriate and fun for girls. Girlsense has a feature called babble. It is much like a cross between facebook and twitter in the respect that you "tell how you are feeling" and you follow your friends. A great thing about babble is that it allows you to talk without allowing swear words. Whenever someone attempts to cuss, a box like this pops up.

This is very good filter. I have tried innumerable inappropriate words, and every time, this box appears. However, Girlsense.com has one thing that I have found that has escaped the filter. The most glaring is a game called "A Day of Slacking". This game teaches a person to dodge homework and chores. This is probably not what every mother wants their child learning to do. The worst part of this game is that it allows people playing the game to drink beer.

However, despite the few things that have slipped under the Girlsense radar, it is still a fun and creative site for kids. I think if a person were to allow their child to play Girlsense with specific instructions not to play this game that it would be truly enjoyable for the child as well as safe. Overall rating 7 out of 10

                                 

Millsberry

Millsberry is a virtual site that is run by General Mills. Some of the games on Millsberry are educational and that is a plus. One downside to the site is, since it is run by General Mills, there are tons of their products displayed on each page and in the games. It is your choice whether or not you see it as a bad thing or not. On Millsberry, your child will create their own avatar and a house for he/she to live. Both are customizable and can be changed as often as wished. Your child's identity is protected with a user name of his/her choice. Interaction with others on the site is not done through chatting, but done in a form of a postcard that can be sent to someone if you know their user name. Other than looking around another avatar's house, that is the only contact that your child might come to any other members. Many good messages are displayed including, encouraging your child to eat healthy foods, do community services, clean their room, and help the environment. I would say this is a great site for kids between the ages of eight and twelve because of its confusing navigation of the site. Overall Millsberry is a safe, fun, and challenging site, and I give it a seven out of ten for all-around clean online fun.

MoshiMonster

MoshiMonsters is an online virtual world for kids. MoshiMonsters is a free site. There is an upgrade to the fun, but it comes with a price. Your child will have plenty to do on the free version of MoshiMonster. It is very safe and encourages children not to share their whole name, or any other personal information. When you sign up for an account, a list of rules pops up ,as shown to the left. These regulations include keeping personal information to yourself and not bullying other members. MoshiMonsters includes fun, clean games that will enhance your child's mind. Many of the puzzles included are vocabulary building, math, and trivia for kids who like to be challenged. The only concern you might have for your child is the appearance of one of the monsters. It has a blood-like substance running out of it's mouth and wears tattered clothing. Your child will see these around but will not have to interact with them if he/she so chooses. Your kids will learn responsibility values by caring for their monster. They will find out how to earn "Rox", equivalent to money, for spending ,and then how to spend wisely on food, clothing, and furniture for their monsters home. There is a form of chatting is on MoshiMonsters. It is found on the pin board in their monster's home. There is a filter, and if there is the case that something disturbing comes through, you or your child can report it to MoshiMonster's moderators and they will review it. If after your child signs up for MoshiMonster and you wish for their profile to be terminated, there are ways for you to do so. I give MoshiMonster a nine out of 10 for safety, fun, and all around greatness!

Fantage

Fantage was a kid site that Hannah and I reviewed. Basically, it was a kid site that you could talk, play games, and buy things for your avatar, which flies around on a hoverboard. You start off by signing up. Then, you get to choose what your avatar looks like. Next, you get to choose what type of chat you want. there are three types. The first one is 13+. The second one is the Fantage chat, which means that everything you say will be monitored. The last option you have is to not have any chatting at all. After that you are all by yourself to do whatever you want.There are many things to do like play games, dress up your avatar, and talk to other people. Our team's favorite game was 'rail rocket', which you are grinding on a rail with your hoverboard, and you try to dodge the cones and the spikes. Overall, this was a great social site for kid's 8-12. Fantage scored 8 out of 10.

review of boombang

Boom Bang is a kids social network and virtual world. It is kinda weird though. there are no filters on the website and it enables you to say or DO, whatever you want such as farting on people, drinking beer, cussing people out, use steroids, kissing boys, and other sick demented things. Its a good concept that allows you to make your own pad on an island and hang with your virtual Homi's but its very rough. you can also rate if a person is sexy or slimy, boring or interesting, and other categories. There is no age limit on Boom Bang and all you need is an email address. there are no games on Boom Bang and all you do is talk and that increases the risk of kids dealing out vital information.
I think this is a very good idea but somethings should be fixed and added before this website hits prime time again. such as...
1. a filter for inappropriate language.
2. no same gender signs of affection
3. take out the farting and spitting affects along with the alcoholic beverages.
4. also take out the rating of people attractiveness as that can hurt people feelings.
5. put a safety quiz in there before you allow people
entertainment was a 7 out of 10
safety was a 1 out of 10
overall 3 out of 10

Welcome to Super Social Safety!

We are a group of teenagers with the Digiteen project. We are reviewing social sites for kids and teens. We will be reviewing sites like BoomBang, MoshiMonster, and Fantage. We will review sites based on the "fun factor",  safety features, and  appropriateness. Our objective is to make sure that kids will be safe, but have fun, while using these sites. Our blogs will include screenshots to show what any sites looks like and to show inappropriate or appropriate features for kids. We hope you will visit our wiki and blog.
                                                                                                                               
Thanks,
Your Super Social  Safety Team :)