Kids and Virtual Worlds
18 Dec 2011 1 Comment
by lindaleea in #edchat, #VirtualWorlds, #vwbpe, Brain Based Learning, Education, elearning, Learning in 3D, lrn3d, mindamp, Second Life, Second Life Course, Social Media, Social Media Class, Uncategorized
When I bring someone new into Second Life or OpenSim, I first explain why. One of the things I show people is how many virtual worlds there are for kids, especially young kids. Kzero has statistics on this. Virtual Worlds is the future for these kids — so instead of Facebook, your kids or grandkids will be in one or more Virtual Worlds. They already are….
Mashable has a great article about Club Penguin.
“Club Penguin is all about creating a digital space where kids can play, participate in events and socialize. The site hosts regular contests, online meetups, “concerts,” digital events (like a site-wide sports tournament), and an official newspaper called “The Club Penguin Times” which is read by more than 1.1 million kids.”
Club Penguin like most virtual worlds is also educational. The game is in 5 languages so kids can actually learn another language and talk to other kids in another language. It is reported by Lane Merrifield that kids improve their typing, reading and writing skills. They can take care of pets (Puffles) that make them responsible and of course it improvestheir social skills. Plus the site donates $1 million to charity.
The site has a wiki, real products and several sites for cheats and hacks.
Visit Club Penguins Youtube channel or one of their multiple twitter sites.
Another online virtual game “Lego Universe” is apparently closing down. So the kids have started an Occupy Lego Universe site. They are calling for a day of action on New Years Eve.
Visit Occupy Lego Universe on Twitter.
