Everything I need to know, I learned from Webkinz World

While watching my 8 year old play on Webkins World the other day, I realized it's teaching her some valuable skills, all in the guise of fun.

For those of you who don't have children between the ages of 6 and 12, or have been recently awakened from a caffeine deprived coma, let me first explain what a Webkinz is.

Owned by Ganz , a Webkinz is a plush toy (a.k.a. a stuffed animal) available at gift and specialty stores, kiosks in the mall, and these days just about everywhere else that wants to cash in on the Webkinz craze. I buy most of my Webkinz at a local gift shop, but have found a wide variety at the Hallmark/Gold Crown stores as well. Each Webkinz is sold with a unique code tag. This code is very important. Your child uses it to log their new friend into the Webkinz.com web site, where they "adopt" their pet, including assigning it a name and a gender.

Here's just a few of the life-skills I observed my daughter using during her Webkinz.com session:

• Click and Drag and Spatial Awareness First, each pet is given a room. and a few special items such food and usually a chair or a bed. Your child needs to click on the item in the inventory, and drag it to the pet's room. This is where they're learning eye-hand coordination, as well as the essential computer skill of the click and drag. They'll be using the click-drag method far into their computing-future, may as well have fun learning it, right? Placement of items in the rooms are done via a grid method. No two items may occupy the same square on the grid, and the larger items take up several squares. Here, they learn spatial positioning, as well as start to assess the visual appeal of the item's placement relative to other items. A good start to leaning web-design perhaps?
  
• Basic Econimics Webkinz World also has a monetary system, using Kinzcash. How does one acquire Kinzcash? One "works" for it. "Working" actually can be done in a couple of ways. There actually is an Employment Office type area, where you child can choose from several tasks such as pet washing, tile placement and the like. The better they do at the job, the more Kinzcash they'll earn. Just like real life. Your child can also earn Kinzcash by playing games, which is obviously the more fun way to go about it. The more games they play, the more Kinzcash they acquire. Sort of like life, but I wish I could find THAT job.
  
• Internet Shopping When it's time to spend their Kinzcash, they go to the W Shop. Here, your child can scroll through the available items and buy what they'd like to outfit their pets or their pet's rooms. They'll learn the concept of comparing price to available Kinzcash, as well as how to use an online shopping cart and checkout procedure, again a valuable skill they'll use many times in their computing-future. They'll be ready for Amazon.com in no time!
• Care and Feeding Besides shopping for the pet, your child will need to feed it, and make sure it's happy and healthy as well. There are indicators for each trait, and if they dip too low, your child will need to deal with it. There is a clinic to assess a sick pet, games to play with the pets to boost their happiness, and foods to prepare to keep their little tummies happy. This helps teach responsibility for caring for someone else, at least on a very manageable scale for a young child. The good news for us parents is that unlike those Tamagachi toys that were popular several years ago, a neglected pet does not die. They'll just be sad - which can quickly be remedied. Also, the pet's state really doesn't change between logins, so don't fall for the "but I have to play on the computer, or else my pet will get sick!" wails.
  

My daughter received her first Webkinz as a gift for her 7th birthday, and she eagerly checks the Webkinz web site each month to see what new ones are being released that month. Her collection currently numbers 50 plush toys, and her favorites get the prized bed-time location of sleeping right next to her. My son is less emphatic about collecting the toys, but still boasts around 20 plush toys, with his current favorites also granted bed access. Both kids insist that their "pets" get treated to goodnight kisses and hugs and the occasional bed-time tummy rub. I wish I'd thought to buy stock in Ganz a long time ago. I figure I've already invested at least $400 in them (the rest were gifts from other family members), but at least they don't make annoying beeping sounds from somewhere in the room that I can't seem to locate like those darn Tamagachi's did - thank goodness my kids don't collect those anymore! I'll take a quiet plush toy over those things any day!