Webkinz are collectible stuffed animal toys created by Ganz, which have codes attached to each one allowing your child to enter their online world and play games, build their own house, dress up their virtual pets and many other fun things. Webkinz is tailored for children ages 5 - 14 but fans of all ages have jumped into the Webkinz World and enjoyed the stories, puzzles and games available there.
You only need one code to open an account for one year. After this, you can purchase another code, which will give you another virtual pet. You never lose your first pet as long as you update your account with new time within 30 days. There are special items you can get in the virtual world with your 10th, 15th, and 20th pets. Collecting them all opens something spectacular as well, but we at Ten Ton Hamster do not know anyone who has them all!
Once your child is in the virtual Webkinz World they will choose a name for their pet and start to earn kinzcash, the currency used with which they can buy food to feed their pet, furniture and clothing for their pet, and fun items like toys, a bathtub, even seasonal items like a Christmas tree! If your child does not want to spend time doing the jobs at the employment office or doing trivia questions to earn their money, there are daily events like spinning wheels and bingo cards that earn money too. As well, all of the casual games in the arcade earn cash for points.
Key Points When Considering This Game for your Child:
★ Sharing of Information: There is no way for anyone to share information in the game. All Chat, Kinzmail and any other correspondence is menu-chat, meaning that the phrases you can say are selected from a menu, and you are never able to freely select text. As well, anything you name (your pet, your pet's rooms) are run through a very strict censor. As well, there are no official forums (to date) on the Webkinz official site. Your child has no way of passing along any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in Webkinz or on their website.
★ Actions in the Game: There is no way to create suggestive or inappropriate behaviours. You can not be in a bed, tub or pool together with another webkinz. There are only 3 actions you can do; smile, wave or laugh. There is no way to make any kind of violent or any other hostile action toward someone. If you invite someone into your pet's home, you may also send them home again at any time. And you need to accept any invitation in the game - to play a two-person game, to be added to anyone's friends contact list, or to visit another player's home.
★ Playtime: The games in Webkinz are all "short and sweet". You can spend hours playing any of them, but you don't need to spend a lot of time to complete anything. Gardening, Employment, the Academy, Trivia, or any Arcade Game - each of these can be completed in under 10 minutes. What is nice about this is, your child can get a lot accomplished in a very short time and not feel the need to stay online for hours. You can limit their time and they won't feel the need to beg for more time.
★ Educational: The games, trivia and puzzles in the Webkinz world have an educational component to them. There is a virtual jigsaw puzzle; a virtual studio where you can choose actors, set design and write lines to create a "movie"; trivia questions broken into categories like art, social studies and math which teach real facts and also add an extra fun fact to each answer; and jobs that require sorting, matching, math, and logic. There are plenty of fun and silly things for your child to do but, it is interwoven with plenty that teaches, too!
