Poptropica, for kids who love ‘tropical’ websites
Poptropica is a virtual world for kids to travel, play games, compete in competition, and communicate safely. read books, comics, and more. And one of the best things is that it’s totally free. Also its good for kids from about 6 to 10 so more that siblings can enjoy the same world together.
Tropics themed world
Poptropica is another virtual world for the young child to teenager group. You can choose a characters age, from 6-15 and gender. Then you are assigned an avatar, which looks somewhat like a bug with long skinny legs and a big head. You can change hair color, clothes and other features of the avatar. Then you hop on a hot air balloon and explore the group of islands that make up Poptropica with different themes Sky, Super Power, 24 Carrot, Time Tangled and Early Poptropica to name just a few.
Fees to pop
One nice fact about Poptropica is that it is free. Yes, totally, free. No purchase required literally. Though not totally commercial free, while I explored I saw billboards of a new Disney movie and could enter a movie house with Phineas & Ferb and Hannah Montana themed games. Though I thought that was a small price to pay for not having to subscribe to anything.
Any educational value?
The premise is the same as most, giving kids a way to ‘play’ in a virtual world with friends, chat and talk to them and play some games. Certainly not as educational as some, Poptropica is a fun diversion for an afternoon but I don’t see it becoming the all out craze like some other sites because there doesn’t seem to be any reason to return. Though you are allowed to ’save’ your character and return they openly tell you that they do not save passwords and user names, so if you lose it, you need to start over; a feature that is nice from a security standpoint, but tough on the kids wanting to start where they left off.
Parental controls
From a parent’s perspective there didn’t seem to be any safeguard that would allow you to monitor what your children were doing and whom they were doing it with. Though they only offer ‘pre-scripted chat’ which means you need to choose from a list of things to say to each character, not type any words you want.
Coming Soon
Astro-knights, Big Nate Island, and Reality TV Island are reportedly being added to the Poptropica map sometime this year. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I will return to check out Reality TV Island. I love a good Survivor!
Quick Facts:
6-15, though probably best for 6-10
Free with advertising inside
Personalized avatars
How many ‘Clicks’ does this world get?
We give this site between 6 and 6 1/2 Clicks! What do you think? Send your views and votes to OneClickMoms.
Today’s Reviewer is Deb Golumbek
Deb Golumbek is a full-time mother of two very active boys in elementary school. She is a freelance writer and editor and is a former parenting magazine managing editor. She has published numerous articles geared towards children’s health, educational issues, Internet safety and family fun. She has a background in teaching elementary school-aged children and considers the Internet a great tool that children need lots of supervision to use safely! She lives in Bel Air Maryland with her husband and children.
Coming up next– kids get to help the Nature Conservancy through ZooKaZoo.
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