Webkinz

i hate webkinz

they're marketing genius! you can only play online with them for a period of time and then you have to buy a new one for the little kiddies. they're a huge hit with kids right now, but have no real "good" qualities about them.

When my daughter got into them, I started looking for em on Ebay, as the ebay junkie I am.  So I got a few and one for myself.  I like to find out for myself what is involved in any online gaming or kids environment to see if there are any pitfalls.  I found it quite enjoyable.  As for the education part, there really isnt too much that requires more than skills of playing a board game.  It does give you responsibity of your pets, but they can never "die" as the old Tomagatchi games did.  I think they should change that so that a pet could be neglected and there would be a consequence.  I did like the fact that your child doesnt chat directly with others.  They have a choice of premade responses or questions or comments to ask other.

although I'm a preteen, some of my younger friends use webkins all the time and the really little ones learn quite a bit from this program...

My little brother has like 45. On the website, it is mostly just entertaining games, there is only about 5 "learning games." If you just have the stuffed animal, there's no harm in that, but it you're going to go on the website, it's just made for kids' entertainment.

I had a Webkinz. I think it is very easy to use online. They aren't very expensive depending on where you live. There is nothing unsafe or bad with the website. I also do believe they are educational. Depending on the child they are probably good for kids from the age of, say 4 to whenever. I had mine until i was 11.