Mapoosa
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this website.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Mapoosa is an online world packed with games, both "just for fun" and educational. The site is designed in India for an Indian audience, so kids will encounter accented voice-overs, some uncommon words, and Indian-focused content (tigers, poachers, rupees). All users create accounts, and parent approval is not necessary. Further, kids can chat with, friend, and message other users -- all without that information being available to parents. For details on the kinds of information collected and shared, read the site's privacy policy.
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What’s It About?
MAPOOSA is a simulated world of quirky destinations and customizable avatars. As kids explore, they run into many (more than 130) short games to play, which range from simply fun to educational (especially math). Some locations and games are blocked to (free) visitors and accessible only to (paid) citizens. Kids earn "poosos" for completing tasks and games and can earn badges upon finishing certain game sets. Poosos are used to upgrade an avatar's clothes or home items. All users create an account. Kids do enter a parent's email address, though parents don't provide approval. Kids can chat with other avatars and can connect through friending and messages.
Is It Any Good?
Kids won't mind poking around this silly world and will find lots to keep them entertained, but for the screen-time minutes they absorb, the games and learning could really be more robust. Some don't even support the learning they claim to. There's a curriculum guide listing games by subject, but it's almost impossible to locate specific games within Mapoosa. The math games tend to include tutorials and practice problems around elementary concepts (fractions, base-ten numerals). But these are fast-paced and use fairly uncommon math language ("3 by 4" instead of "three-fourths"). Paying for membership will provide you with a parent account to view kids' usage and game statistics. Scores you see, though, will compare your kid to other players, not to a standard of mastery. And you won’t have access to social interactions (kids' chats, messages, or friend data). Add to this the problem that some kids might have understanding some of the accents or uncommon words and slang that makes more sense to an Indian audience, and you have a site that means well but just doesn't go far enough to deliver an immersive experience to all kids around the world.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how to interact respectfully and safely in a simulated world. What information is OK to type? What do you do with an unknown friend request?
Discuss similarities and differences between India and your home. Does this country seem so foreign after you've spent time on this site? Why?
Website Details
- Subjects: Math: fractions, numbers, patterns, Science: animals, plants, Social Studies: cultural understanding, exploration
- Genre: Educational
- Topics: Adventures, Numbers and Letters, Science and Nature
- Pricing structure: Paid, Free (Subscriptions range from $3.95/month to $32.95/year per child.)
- Last updated: March 8, 2019
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