Garden Party World (http://www.gardenpartyworld.com/)

Kids plant and water seeds and recycle unwanted plants in a compost bin in the virtual GARDEN PARTY world, which can help teach them about responsibility and being green. Garden Party also has an admirably safe, filtered chat function -- plus different areas of the world load quickly, so it's easy to travel from place to place.

The downside? Walking around is a breeze, but participating in site activities isn't always quite as simple. An owl character offers some help in each section -- but kids may still be confused. For example, to fish in the Lazy Lagoon you'll need a duck costume -- which isn't particularly easy to find or purchase.

Spend some time on the site and it's clear that to really join the party, you may need to rack up a bunch of orbs -- the site currency, which can be earned playing games and completing other activities -- or buy a VIG membership, which costs $5.95 for one month or $49.95 for a year.

Online interaction: During registration, users can opt to either chat using the site's filter function or not have access to chatting at all. Users can also message each other via an IM function or by sending mail through the site.