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  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 0, age appropriate for kids over 5; suggested age 6.

  • Is it any good?

    4.0

  • Common Sense says

    Cool word games add extra challenge to friendly edu-site.

On this site kids can:   learn with others, play games, watch videos

Why We Rated This on for Ages 6 and Up

The good stuff

  • Educational value:

    By completing various games (putting together compound words, adding a silent “e” and so on) users collect points -- called “volts” -- and each show character’s total volts is tallied regularly, which adds a fun challenge to the educational component.

  • User-created content:

    Not an issue.

  • Messages:

    Users will find friendly faces who offer a lot of positive encouragement as they take on various spelling, language, and grammar challenges. The message is that language arts is cool, fun, and funny.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence:

    Not an issue.

  • Sex:

    Not an issue.

  • Language:

    Not an issue.

  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Not an issue.
 

How safe is it?

  • Personal privacy:

    Users can set up their own profile, but their options are strictly limited to selecting a username as well as their favorite show personality (whose picture appears on the profile).

  • Online interaction:

    Although users create profiles and can view the profiles of other users, there's no personal information revealed in any of the profiles and there's no user interaction.

  • Parental controls:

    Not an issue.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About The Electric Company

Parents need to know that this companion site to the television show is a stimulating place for grade-schoolers to learn reading skills such as letter sounds, spelling, and grammar. Guided by the friendly faces from the TV show, the site offers educational games, vignettes from the show and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the people behind the characters. Kids will need basic reading skills to enjoy the site.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • How online games can help reinforce some of the language lessons kids learn in school and through educational television programming. How does this help you learn better?
  • Why it’s so much fun to have a competitive element to online games and learning, such as the point system on this site. How does collecting “volts” add to the experience of learning and playing games? How can you ensure you’re not spending too much time playing these games?
  • Why it’s important to maintain a healthy balance when it comes to online entertainment -- even when you’re spending time with positive media such as educational television programs and online learning games.
Tools and tips that can help

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