Kids Get New Online Preschool Playground

March 24, 2008 — -- The PBS Kids Web site has long been a go-to destination for parents looking for quality online content for preschoolers. But now that same organization has come up with a more robust option, called PBS Kids Play!

Launched on March 18, PBS Kids Play! is a broadband subscription service that provides kids ages 3 to 6 with individualized, sequential learning based on national educational standards. The service, which costs $9.95 a month or $79 for a year, will funnel all of its fees back into PBS Kids so that the product can keep adding new weekly content.

"It's been an 18-month development process to build our content from the ground up to meet national educational standards," Ben Grimley, PBS' senior director of interactive businesses, said. "PBS Kids Play! does not contain any games that have been re-purposed from other products or Web sites."

The service has 14 interactive CD-ROM-type games and it will be adding new content weekly.

What distinguishes this from other PBS Kids content is that the games build on concepts learned. The service tracks how your child is doing while playing the games, and then offers new activities based on his or her performance and age.

PBS Kids decided to develop this individualized service because "interactive media has tremendous potential to engage children in active learning," Grimley said.

By offering a broad range of subject areas (math, science, language, literacy, creativity, healthy development and social studies) that preschoolers can explore at their own pace, "PBS Kids Play! recognizes and rewards the growth of each individual child, adjusting the level of challenge as she or he demonstrates the capacity to handle it," Grimley said.

When kids enter this virtual playground, they arrive in their own Home Room. They can personalize it by clicking on things to change, such as furniture, wall color, and toys. From the Home Room, kids can navigate to the games, videos, and printable materials offered by this service. This is also where art projects created in this world will show up for display, and prizes won will appear. Dash, the kid-mascot of this service, can be found there as well, and he is always available to provide help.

Best for ages 3-6

From PBS, www.PBSKidsPlay.org, $9.95/month or $79.00/year.

Jinny Gudmundsen is the kid-tech columnist for the Gannett News Service and USA Today.com, and is also the editor of Computing with Kids Ezine.