Common Sense Media Review
By Dana Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Familiar characters, but light on content and too many ads.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Is It Any Good?
It's nice to see a website stress the importance of parents playing online with young children. That said, the many ads geared toward parents (and the less obvious ways kids are also pitched to on this site) are somewhat intrusive and overwhelming. And while there are many games and printables for kids to play with online and off-line here, the stories and videos sections need more content. The site feels sort of like a PBSKids.org, but not nearly up to that level of quality and quantity of things to do.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how even young kids can learn to decipher when they're being sold something. For example, some of the videos on the site are trailers for new books. Can your child identify which videos are ads? Read Common Sense Media's Parent Advice: Selling to Kids Tips.
Ask your child what's different about seeing some of these well-known characters, like Clifford or the Magic School Bus's Ms. Frizzle, in a book vs. on a television show or a website.
This site stresses parent involvement, and parents will need to read a lot of the instructions here to young kids who cannot yet read. So ask your child how he or she likes it when you play along vs. when they play alone on kids' websites that have complete voice-over instructions. Is it more fun with Mom or Dad playing along?
Website Details
- Genre : Educational
- Pricing structure : Free
- Last updated : September 30, 2022
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
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