Parents' Guide to

HandiPoints

By Dana Cotter, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Chart chores; play in a safe virtual world.

Website http://www.handipoints.com
HandiPoints Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this website.

Community Reviews

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age 9+

Based on 3 parent reviews

SherryS 1
SherryS 1 Parent
March 4, 2015
age 15+

I love this

I love handy. Will give 5 stars when I can access it on my droid Android tablet can do this through Google Play Store
spoilermaker92
spoilermaker92 Adult
June 9, 2011
age 8+

Great website for kids and parents

Great website for tracking chores/behaviors for kids. You can choose from preselected charts or create a custom chart. You can pick from a list of rewards or add your own. Kids can sign on and check off their chores and you can grade them on how well they did the chore. There is also games you can play and an "interactive" land for the kids to play in. My kids like it ok, but not as well as some of the other interactive worlds (such as Webkinz). Fun site though and definitely helps to motivate my kids to do their chores!

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
See all 3 parent reviews

What’s It About?

Step right up and rally round the computer because HANDIPOINTS.COM may be just the tool your family needs to organize, motivate, and get things done. After task charts are designed and goals are set online, kids input their progress and receive two kinds of points: Handipoints and Bonus Points. Handipoints can be used to buy things in the real world in the form of an allowance, privileges, etc. Bonus Points are used in the virtual world HandiLand to buy virtual stuff such as clothes, furniture, or backgrounds for avatars. Kids can chat safely with preset dialog and funny animations. The site also features a blog for parents and a Cool Cats Magazine for kids.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (3 ):

If your family is up for using all its bells and whistles, both you and your kids will really get into logging progress with chores online and earning points at HandiPoints.com. The site provides loads of ideas and is extremely easy to use, which makes wanting to come back really inviting. The level of customization is probably the best feature: The process can be as simple or as detailed as you like. Want to choose from the site's list of chores? Want tasks to be daily, weekly, or just once? No problem. And, parents have the option to grade a completed task if they want kids to only earn a fraction of its worth (this is where quality versus quantity comes into play). HandiPoints.com is also well designed with loads of charming graphics and features kids will love -- from the games to the colorful virtual world. One thing: Using the tools on a daily basis is only practical if all family members are online everyday (you can go back one week if needed). So if you're low on time, you may want to skip the whole tracking, grading, and virtual world thing as the task chart feature is worthy in itself.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the tasks required to keep their home happy and healthy and which are considered kid chores. Would keeping a weekly chart help your family? Is using the computer as both a tracking system and a reward system a practical way for your family to communicate about chores? Would earning points for an online virtual world increase motivation for completing chores?

Website Details

  • Genre: Blogging
  • Pricing structure: Free
  • Last updated: November 4, 2015

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