• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 6, age appropriate for kids over 8; suggested age 8.

• Is it any good?

  2.0

• Common Sense says

  Formulaic but safe online world stresses good behavior.

Why We Rated This for Ages 8 and Up

The good stuff

• Educational value:

  The site touts money management and reading as two educational draws. But there's very little substantive educational components here. It's more about the fun of dressing up and building a home for the little panda, wandering about the virtual world, and playing games.
• User-created content:

  Not an issue.
• Messages:

  Some examples of positive messages this site imparts: Reminders early on in the registration process about Internet safety, a regularly updated blog that encourages kids to notice what's new on the site, and games that include searching to find hidden objects.

   

What to watch out for

• Violence:

  Not an issue.
• Sex:

  Even though the avatar used in this virtual world is a cute little red panda, some of the clothes that he/she can buy and wear are not typical kid-style clothes.
• Language:

  There's a safe chat mode that allows for only pre-scripted text or a standard filter chat, which is a site filter that reportedly filters out bad words. That said, a number of users on this site speak languages other than English, so whether it filters out bad language in other languages remains in question.
• Consumerism:

  Along with the typical kids' virtual world stuff  ("Earn coins then shop in the make believe store"), there's a link to a third-party site that sells real-life Pandanda merchandise.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  None observed.

How safe is it?

• Online interaction:

  Helpful reminders about safe online interaction during the registration process (such as "keep chat safe and respectful," "never reveal personal info."), safe chat modes, periodic review of chat logs and a general sense of positive, controlled interaction for younger kids makes this site a generally positive spot. On the downside, younger children may have a hard time understanding if their chat requests are rejected.
• Parental controls:

  Parents are required to supply email address at time of registration, and they are given access to change chat mode, and cancel account at any time.

What Parents Need to Know

About Pandanda

Families Can Talk About