• CSM Reviews <--
• Adult Reviews
• Kid Reviews

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that there is no advertising on the site. Also, new discoveries and other user-added items do not go "live" until checked by a staffer.

Families can have fun joining the site and "mapping" their own backyards or a local park. Remind kids not to give away too much personal information in their member profiles.

Rate It!

Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Jean Armour Polly

Hosted by PBS, this awesome site for tweens doesn't disappoint. You don't even have to be a nature enthusiast, but it helps.

Kids sign up to be members and then create real or imaginary "backyards." Some of the imaginary ones are fantastic Harry-Potter-like places. Add "discoveries" to the backyard by uploading photos or drawings as well as descriptions and field notes such as weather and time of day. Discoveries range from the real --a dog, a flower, a sunset -- to the imaginary -- such as a dragon, a dinosaur.

All site visitors, members or not, can view backyards and enjoy the discoveries. You can also search for a backyard by specific habitat or state, among other things. Explore discoveries the same way. If you want to see discoveries that are only native birds found in Kentucky, you can do that.

Members create their own page containing links to their backyards and all their "friends" on the site. Here's the genius: Kids can vote for other kids' backyards and elevate them to the front page of the site. They can also vote for a friend to help make him or her the highest-voted member. Kids are limited to a certain number of votes per day, but they also accumulate points when they log in and vote. They also win points when they play the games or create new discoveries and new backyards. It's not clear what points can be used for, although kids seem to like the challenge of amassing them.

Reviewed: 03/16/2006

Rate It Now

OR