August 25, 2010

Zoodles Review

I recently had the pleasure of being asked to review a premium membership to Zoodles. Initially I was only going create a profile for my youngest daughter (8 years) because the site is recommended for ages 8 and under. That was short-lived when my 9 year old daughter didn’t think it was fair that her younger sister had a profile and she didn’t so I created a profile for her as well. Soon after my middle daughter was navigating her way around her individualized browser, my son (11 years) asked if he could also have a profile set up…long story short, all of my kids, except the baby, ended up with a profile. I was worried that the options, games and so on would be too young for my older children but this did not seem to be the case. In fact it was pointed out to me that if my older kids had games they liked outside Zoodles, I could add these under the parental control feature. I didn’t have to do this however because my kids were more than satisfied with the many selections of games, video clips, etc that were available to them within their browsers. I was suprised the my 11 year old`s favorite games were learning about Malaria, parasites and mosquito`s.

I didn’t get to use the parent play-along mode simply because my kids are “too old” for that but once my youngest daughter is becoming a toddler, I would love to be able to play-along with her. Some of my favorite features of the site were the custom selections. For example I can set a time limit for each of my kids on Zoodles. I thought this was fantastic because it’s so easy for the kids to get carried away on the computer and before long they’ve spent way too much time on there, in my opinion. They also fight less. Why? Because they know when they run out of time they’ve had a fair turn on the computer; they know that their siblings have had or will get the same amount of time. Another great feature is that I get weekly progress reports sent to my email for each child which makes it easy for me to know which subjects each child might need more work with AND all at a glance. I can then login to my parental dashboard and adjust the subjects I think the kids need more work with, based on their progress reports. Personally I know that each of my children need more skill building in certain subjects so when I built their individual profiles, I made sure to adjust the subjects according to their needs. You can view what your child has been up to, any completed art projects, games they`ve played and so on. Another fabulous feature which would be great especially for younger kids, is the option to be able to record your voice reading one of the available stories on Zoodles. This way your kids can hear you read to them anytime they want while following along to the book on Zoodles One other great feature I thought was a really cute idea, was that after one of the kids completes an art project it can be uploaded to my facebook page if I want. This would be really cute to share with family and friends.

I really liked all the great features Zoodles had to offer to me as a parent allowing me to have more control over what my kids view on the computer; more so, my kids loved Zoodles which allowed them to have fun doing while staying safe online. The kids all love Zoodles and continue playing with it almost everyday and with the browser being 100% FREE, you can`t go wrong.

**Please take a moment to view the video and see all the many great features Zoodles has to offer your children. (Overview of Zoodles)**

Features

Zoodles Kid’s Browser – By launching the icon on your desktop, your child will enter a full-screen mode of Zoodles that will keep them from exiting out and finding inappropriate content or accidentally deleting your important files.

**Please take a moment to view the video and see all the many great features Zoodles has to offer your children. (Overview of Kids Browser)**

A Playground Full of Fun, Age-Appropriate Games – a virtual “Playground” filled with puzzles, games and all sorts of fun activities. The kid-friendly interface has stripped out confusing Back buttons and URL bars so the browsing experience is easy for kids.

Always Safe with Zoodles Ad Blocking and Violence Filtering – your child ONLY has access to websites and pages that have been carefully screened by our team of educational experts, meaning he or she is always safe inside of the Zoodles browser. If your child ever tries to navigate elsewhere, the Zoodles browser will block them and take them safely back to the Playground.

Always Educational – Our games not only cover the traditional school subjects like Math and Reading, but also more nontraditional subjects like Design, Memory Skills, Computer Literacy, and much more!

**Please take a moment to view the video and see all the many great features Zoodles has to offer your children. (Overview of Parent Dashboard)**

Parental Controls – YOU can customize the games and activities in your child’s Playground. Zoodles lets you ramp up educational subjects in your child’s Playground so he or she can spend more time playing games in those subject areas. Additional parental controls include the ability to set time limits, block videos or printables, and even set violence filters.

Zoodles Play Timer – The Zoodles play timer lets parents control how long their kids can play on Zoodles. You can set time limits ranging from half an hour to 8 hours a day, and change these settings depending on whether it’s the weekend or weekday. Once time runs out, kids are safely brought back to the family log-in screen, and the browser stays in full-screen mode.

Parental Monitoring – you can view vibrant, detailed reports on all your child’s activity inside of Zoodles and stay up-to-date on his or her rapidly changing interests.

Parent Play-Along Mode – Letting parents play side by side with children who can’t use a mouse on their own.

Buy It: All parents who download the free Zoodles browser will also be given a free trial of Zoodles Premium Membership. Once the free trial expires, basic Zoodles members can still continue using the browser for free. For parents interested in becoming Premium Members, Zoodles offers a number of pricing plans, including $7.95 per month, $39.95 for 6 months and $59.95 for the entire year.

Disclaimer: The product mentioned above has been provided free of charge from the company for the purposes of this review. Opinions expressed belong solely to This Lil Piglet and are NOT influenced in any way. Other than the review sample product This Lil Piglet has not received any form of compensation for the review of this product.