Start them Very Very Young

Get Them Hooked!

It should be no surprise to parents and educators who are around this target audience day in and out. For librarians in the children's section it may be one more way to activate a passion for the public library. Called Web Playgrounds of the Very Young, major industry players such as Disney and Nickelodeon are getting there share of the pie. Its a booming market. “Get ready for total inundation,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at the research firm eMarketer, who estimates that 20 million children will be members of a virtual world by 2011, up from 8.2 million today. Even companies like Mattel and Lego are entering the market as well.

My question, and forgive me for asking, how much learning is a kid really doing at these sites?And is it just another marketing opportunity for these giants to profit off parents who wish to find appealing zones of safety that their children may play in without fear of inappropriate content or even worse, predators.

Disney’s goal is to develop a network of worlds that appeal to various age groups, much like the company’s model. Preschool children might start with Pixie Hollow or Toon Town, another of Disney’s worlds, grow into Club Penguin and the one for “Cars” and graduate to “Pirates of the Caribbean” and beyond, perhaps to fantasy football at ESPN.com.

Most of these are more cursory skill sets and web navigation. So it could be useful in getting a child interested in using computer (not a difficult task) and in a safe and friendly way.

A good friend of mine, a neighbor, who has two nephews and three nieces says that, Vivian just turning five will sit quietly for long periods when ever her mama will turn on "Ipies" (Vivian's pronunciation of Pixie Hollow). And this is a young lady who likes to play I can say "No" louder than you, according to my neighbor.

I have checked out the links below and to be honest, they seem oriented to selling, to me. But perhaps I am cynical. If children are learning anything remotely useful, are safe, healthy, and happy, that is all that matters. Right?

Any thoughts?


Here is the link to the New York Times article (italics are quoted passages):

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/business/31virtual.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Here are some of the playgrounds mentioned in the New York Times Article:

http://www.webkinz.com/index.html

http://www.clubpenguin.com/

http://www.moshimonsters.com/

http://www.stardoll.com/en/

http://play.toontown.com/webHome.php?r=431716&r=431024&r=674800&r=213428

http://disney.go.com/fairies/games/pixiehollow.html