Poptropica

Ready for some island hopping? Then head on over to POPTROPICA, a virtual world from the creators of FunBrain. Players get an avatar and name, then board the Poptropica blimp for one of many islands, including Spy, Reality Television, Super Power, and Mythology Islands. Each island holds its own adventure; players climb, jump, and collect objects in order to complete missions, which they learn about by talking to the locals. Along the way, they can stop in at destinations like the Pop Shop or Poptropica Arcade to chat or play mini-games with other visitors. After saving their game once, players can leave and come back at any time to pick up where they left off.

Poptropica is completely appropriate for kids, but its missions are challenging enough to keep older tweens entertained, too. Exploring the islands takes hours of game play, and the site develops new islands frequently (though only players with paid memberships get early access).  Kids need to have solid reading skills and basic understanding of point-and-click operations in order to play (and enjoy themselves). Younger kids might find completing some missions difficult without some help, since they sometimes require maneuvering quickly or completing a series of steps in a specific order. Parents will appreciate the educational tidbits woven into the adventure -- players encounter famous historical figures and learn about ancient civilizations on Time Tangled Island, for example. Poptropica also gets points for cleverness -- the original settlers of Early Poptropica Island are rendered in 1980s-style 16-bit animation.

Online interaction: Kids can chat with other players, but only through pre-scripted chat phrases, so there is no chance of profanity, bullying, or other inappropriate behavior. When a kid says no to another player's offer to play a game, the player sometimes cries and throws a brief tantrum.