Tag: "website"

Which way to Woogi World

The internet continues to be more popular and more appealing and a bigger part of our daily activities. My son TJ’s class has access to resources including some books online. Kids are wooed from a young age with website addresses flashing across the screens of some of their favorite television shows and channels. I’m sure there are many parents like myself that limit their children’s website usage and monitor what they do online. We have to because we have to do everything we can to keep our children safe. I’m always interested in learning about safe, child friendly websites of a positive nature. Thanks to Mom Central, I’ve learned about exactly such a site – Woogi World.

The mission of Woogi World is, according to the website: “Through our safe, and engaging virtual world, www.woogiworld.com, elementary age children worldwide are becoming responsible Internet users and goodwill ambassadors, learning and implementing the character traits that are helping them be good influences in their homes, schools, and communities—ultimately leading out in the global “Woogi phenomenon” of kids driving good works.”

Woogi World is a safe online community for children where kids can learn how to use the internet responsibly while positive character traits and skills are reinforced. Parents have their own account where they can monitor and limit their child’s activities. When signing up children must create a unique Woogi name, real names are not allowed. Then parents must verify their child has permission to join. Once that’s done children are able to play inside of Woogi World, creating and personalizing their Wigwam (think of it as home) and playing with other Woogis. Completing offline tasks, playing games and carrying out random acts of kindness to other Woogis earns a child watts, which is the equivalent of Woogi money.

A basic account on Woogi World is free for any child that is of elementary school age or younger. An upgraded account with expanded features is available for $6.95 per month. On an even broader basis, Woogi World is being made available to more than 50,000 schools. Through a partnership with Studies Weekly and the Humane Society launched on September 1, 2008, students in participating classrooms will receive a secret code to log in and have access to information pertaining to their course materials.

The site is fun and the graphics are colorful. The stores are full of things children are familiar with. The games are entertaining and reinforce education and safety. I myself played with it for almost an hour after we registered. TJ is a little old for the site at 12 but my niece has been having a blast with it. Woogi World is a terrific example of computing and internet technology put to good use in that it provides kids with a safe, fun and healthy place to learn and play online that incorporates real life activities.

Sep 29, 2008 | 1 comment | View Post

Precious Girls Club review and giveaway

Thanks to MomSelect I’ve learned about another great new item! Precious Moments, the company that makes those adorable figurines that most people are familiar with, has created an entire new product line called The Precious Girls Club that encourages young girls to enjoy being young, or precious, and encourages the values and ideals that we as parents want our children to have.

The Precious Girls Club is recommended for girls age four to eight. The heart of the Precious Girls Club is the website, an interactive virtual world created just for little girls to play in safely. To join the club all a little girl needs to do is visit www.preciousgirlsclub.com where all she needs to do is register a user name and create her profile. A standard membership is free and there is an enhanced membership available for a small monthly fee of which $1 goes to St Jude Children’s Hospital. Once a member girls will be able to create their own online character, decorate the character’s room, explore, socialize and play. Only Precious Girls Club members are able to access the site and members may only communicate with other members. Moms are able to share this experience with their daughter as well, by sending a message to her daughter in the virtual world and even reward her real world behavior with virtual charms.

The Precious Girls Club website was created to be a safe and fun environment where girls can have fun and learn. Kids grow up quickly enough without being hurried along by society, this site encourages young girls to be the precious young girls that they are. The site offers age appropriate activities, crafts and games that all encourage character traits such as helpfulness, kindness, responsibility and caring. Merchandise complementing the site such as charm bracelets, charms, music CDs, figurines water globes and plush toys will also be available in retail and specialty stores and will provide positive reinforcement of these traits. Products purchased will include special codes that upgrade the child’s membership. Also being released to complement the website is a series of chapter books. These books are a series based on a character named Kate Bennett. The first book in the series is A Little Bit Of Faith by Cindy Kenney and it becomes available for purchase this month. Precious Moments has even included moms by creating the new Precious Moms website. At www.preciousmoms.com, women will find planning tools and recipes and be able to interact with other mothers.

Time to give some stuff away! Five winners will each receive a copy of the first Precious Girls Club book A Little Bit Of Faith and one scratch off card good for a free Precious Girls Club Premium Rainbow Membership trial. Five additional winners will each receive one scratch off card good for a free Precious Girls Club Premium Rainbow Membership trial. To enter the giveaway visit the Precious Girls Club website and take a look around. Then return here and leave a comment on this post stating who you’d like to win this for and one thing from the site that you think they’ll enjoy. Contest ends Friday 09/26/08 at 11:59 pm est. US addresses only please. Only comments that include the requested information will be eligible for the giveaway.
Good luck to all!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.

Sep 17, 2008 | 14 comments | View Post

AnnoyingCallers review

Every day when I get home I check the caller id. Usually there’s at least four to six calls from numbers I don’t know, and the people calling didn’t leave a message. While I don’t return hang up calls, I am often curious and wonder who they were from. AnnoyingCallers is a site people could try if they’re searching for more information about who’s calling them. AnnoyingCallers.com is a website that provides information about where calls come from and what happened when they called. A number of the reports describe calls from annoying telemarketers trying to sell something, while others describe calls from different solicitors and collection agencies. There’s even some reports in there of habitual hang ups. The site is easy to use, just enter the phone number you’d like to see information on and click search. I’m not sure where the resulting reports come from, but I think it might benefit the site and its visitors if visitors are allowed to submit a report.

Sep 04, 2008 | 1 comment | View Post

The return of the Banana Splits

Who remembers the kids television show The Banana Splits? I do remember them, but only vaguely. When I asked RB if he remembered The Banana Splits he got so excited he knew more about something than I did. (In this case, it’s because he’s OLDer then me.)

The Banana Splits were a costumed rock band that had their own television show in the late 1960s. The four members were Feegle the dog, Drooper the lion, Bingo the gorilla and Snorky the elephant. The show was all about music, comedy and fun. They now have their own fun website and on September 2, 2008 they will be returning to television for a new generation of children to enjoy. The Banana Splits will be featured in new comedy shorts and new music videos on the Cartoon Network weekdays between 9 am and 2 pm.

The new Banana Splits website is decorated in the fun retro 60s look that so many adults remember and so many young people love. Visitors to the site can watch comedy shorts and music videos, play games, solve secret codes and join the Banana Splits club.

Here’s a sample of the fun coming your way this fall.

See you in September!

Thanks to Team Mom for giving me the sneak peek!

Aug 12, 2008 | 1 comment | View Post

Get Snacktivated

We all snack a little in my house. Oh, who am I kidding? We snack a lot in my house. Growing up my brothers used to come to my house because “Mommy has nothing good to eat”. (Actually, that one hasn’t changed.) I’ve been trying to buy less junk and more good foods. Always up for some new ideas, I was glad when Mom Central emailed me asking me to check out the new Kellogg’s Snacktivate website.

Snacktivate is about forming healthier, more nutritional snacking habits. Think snack, active and motivate. Deb Geigis Berry, a leading family activity planner, and Rachel Brandeis, a nutrition counselor, are the two experts behind this food philosophy. The four principals of the philosophy are plan it, pick it, make it and move it. Plan it means that snacks should be scheduled as part of an every day routine. Pick it means that parents should be mindful of the foods they pick when grocery shopping. Make it means that parents and children should make snack time a quality, fun, family time activity whenever possible and that everyone should be involved. Move it means that everyone should be physically active.

The Snacktivate website has helpful tips and suggestions as well as recipes, brochures, tips and all the nutritional information you could ever want. There’s even suggestions on getting your children involved in cooking. The site is easy to navigate and everything on it is written so that it’s easy to understand. Snacktivate recipes are broken down by season, and each one has a picture showing the final outcome. Wait until you see the Teddy Bear Pancakes, the Butterfly Quesadillas and the Sassy Sunpops!

The nice folks at Kelloggs were gracious enough to send us two boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, the Sassy Sunpops recipe and a Cereal To Go Cup. This is the neatest cup! The top part of the cup has a lid and operates as a bowl. The bottom part of the cup has nontoxic freezer gel inside it to keep milk cold. And there’s a spoon in the lid. (Since I’m not giving you mine, you can buy the cup from the Kelloggs website store.) Until I received this bowl here’s how I took my breakfast to work. Cereal was put in a baggie. Milk was put in an empty water bottle. At work cereal was poured into a paper coffee cup and then milk onto the cereal. I’d have to do this twice. Usually by the time I was ready for the second half of my cereal my milk was getting warm. This cup makes it so much easier to bring breakfast to work and keep it tasting fresh. Thanks Kelloggs!

The idea for Snacktivate is a good one. We all do need to eat healthier. And quality family time is always good. So take some time to learn about Snacktivate and cook up some fun with the kids.

Jul 23, 2008 | 0 comments | View Post

A NewBaby is born

Moms, there’s a new site created especially with you in mind. It took more than two years to bring NewBaby.com to life. NewBaby is a social media network where mothers can interact with each other through the use of videos and photos. The site is free to join and offers vlogs, blogs and a family photo gallery among it’s many other features. The site is home to a number of parenting experts and offers an Advice and Answers area. One of the areas I liked is the product area which contains review videos. There’s even an entire section for new mothers to be. There’s a lot to see on NewBaby, too much to mention here. So take a moment and check out the NewBaby!

Jul 08, 2008 | 0 comments | View Post

RVs.com for old and new rvs

As I mentioned recently, we have a tiny travel trailer and have been considering getting something larger. My parents recommended we be triple sure that we could see ourselves in whatever we buy ten years down the road. I was in the mood to window shop a little bit today so I hit the internet. After I finished checking out some trailers I visited RVs.com, which is a website that helps people find, buy and sell both used and new RVs and motor homes. The best feature for me was the search by price option. Just by clicking search by price I was able to choose the year, make, model, category and price range I was interested in. I also enjoyed the blog, which was chock full of helpful hints and suggestions. If you’re considering getting an RV, take a look at this site.

Jul 02, 2008 | 0 comments | View Post

Review of Credit Cards Club

Credit Cards Club is a website that offers many types of credit card information and applications all in one place. The site is fairly self explanatory and easy to use. The credit card offers are broken down into categories. All of the categories are formatted alike and offer some background information about the type of offer as well as different credit cards available within that category. For example, if you were looking for a no annual fee credit card you’d click on the no annual fee credit cards image. You’d then read a brief explanation of what a no annual fee credit card is and then be able to sort all of the offerings by intro apr, intro apr period, apr, fee and rating.

One thing I would find helpful is if website explained who was rating the credit card offers and how. The site contains a section full of helpful articles on the different aspects of credit cards including education, background, tips, tutorials and frequently asked questions. Credit Cards Club is a site that would be beneficial to people researching and comparing different types of credit cards because it contains everything all in one place.

Jun 22, 2008 | 0 comments | View Post