As a mom of a four year old constantly surrounded by computer games, gaming systems, and other electronic devices, I find myself constantly filtering through an endless amount of content to find something that is both educational and age appropriate. My little superhero wants to use the "big people" computer "like daddy" and he often struggles to navigate a so called "kid's site" that I usually end up on playing various games while he watches.
Zoodles does all of the work for you as it searches the web and filters out the best educational games, puzzles, and videos, then puts them altogether in a simple, easy to navigate browser that can be customized to your child's age, ability level, and interests. See picture below for a sample of what the browser looks like.
Zoodles features a great parental control dashboard that allows you to customize games and activities in what they call your child's Playground. If your child is a Micky Mouse fan, you can customize his or her Playground so that only Micky Mouse games are available. If you think your child needs to beef up his math skills, you can go a step further and only make available math games. If you do not want your child to have access to a specific game or character, you can tell Zoodles what you want blocked and those games will be removed from his or her Playground. Check out this massive list of games just for 4 year olds. See below for a sample of the Parent Dashboard.
Some other great features include a playtimer and violence filter. The playtimer allows you to set play limits. When the timer runs out your child will be brought back to the family login screen. The violence filter allows you to read how the games are rated and then you can choose a rating level for your child. Games will only be included in your child's toybox that are based on your settings. See below for a sample of the playtimer.
Zoodles main goal is provide kids with a safe place to learn in a fun way online. They make it so easy that my 4 year old really can play and browse all by himself. When he launches the Zoodles icon from my desktop, he enters a full screen mode and the only way he can exit is for me to type "Quit". He only has access to sites that have been screened by the educational experts at Zoodles. If he tries to navigate anywhere else the Zoodles browser blocks him and returns him safely back to his playground to select another game.
My favorite thing about Zoodles is that you get weekly reports that lets you know how your child is doing in various subject areas, what kind of sites they like to visit, and the amount of time they spend each week in a particular subject. Take a look below at a sample of what this chart looks like.
Zoodles keeps you updated each week with a weekly email full of information. Here is a sample from my email after my little one's first week:
Logan's week on Zoodles:
Logan's categories for the week:
Category Amount of Time
Activity 17 minutes
other 15 minutes
Games about 1 hour
Storybook 7 minutes
Video 32 minutes
Logan's favorite courses this week:
Course Details
Name: Music
Logan Played For: 22 minutes
Description: The Music course familiarizes your child with the basic elements of music, including beat and rhythm, patterns, melodies, notes. The course also introduces your child to different instruments and their sounds, as well as famous composers and their works.
Name: Design
Logan Played For: 15 minutes
Description: The Design course allows your child to freely create and customize objects or environments. This includes arranging furniture, building contraptions, designing toys, and dressing up or customizing avatars.
Logan's new character for the week:
Show Details
Name: Handy Manny
Logan Played For: 25 minutes
Description: Handy Manny is a Disney show featuring Manny Garcia, a bilingual handyman. Manny, along with his talking tools, help local town residents "fix" their problems using basic concepts in math, science, spatial reasoning, and much more.
Logan's subjects for the week:
Subject Amount of Time
Reading 17 minutes
Social Studies 1 minute
Math 5 minutes
Life Skills 15 minutes
Science 1 minute
Cognitive Development 35 minutes
Creative Development 37 minutes
Even if your child does not get a chance to play on Zoodles during a week, you still get an email with great information. Here is an email I got after a week of not playing:
The weekly Zoodles update email typically contains some great information about what Logan played in the last 7 days, but it looks like Logan didn't visit Zoodles any time in the past week.
Many parents have told us that it takes a while for their child to ask to play with Zoodles since it's such a new activity. Try encouraging your child to play with Zoodles during natural down times during the day when they might just fall back on watching TV.
If you're having technical difficulties or experiencing slow load times with Zoodles, email us at support@zoodles.com and we can help you get back on track right away. If there's something about Zoodles that you don't like and would like to see us improve, email us at feedback@zoodles.com.
Otherwise, we look forward to seeing Logan back in Zoodles soon!
Sincerely,
The Zoodles Team
Parental controls are free for a trial period and then available only to Zoodles Premium Members. See Pricing Details to learn more.
Disclosure: I did receive a complimentary 6 month premium membership so that I could have the time to explore Zoodles and give my son the opportunity to try it out while I was working on this review. As a teacher of elementary age students and a mom of a 4 year old, I truly feel that Zoodles is a great service with wonderful educational value. The free membership has not effected my review of this service. I did not receive any compensation in the form of cash for this review. In addition, Zoodles had no influence or editing authority of this review. I will be hosting a contest where the winner will receive a 3 month premium membership very soon, but this did not have any influence over my review either. I stand behind this service and when my free 6 month membership runs out, I will gladly pay to renew it for my son! Zoodles is worth your time to check out!!!!
Superheros and Stilettos
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