My Tiny Planets--TOS Review

 

My Tiny Planets is a big website with equally large credentials and endorsements.  It was co-created by Sesame Workshop and has been endorsed by Montessori International.  It has also won two BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards – Interactive Best Entertainment Website and Best Children's Interactive.  Quite admirable, I'd say!

Here's the rundown:

Tiny Planets TV:  Here you can watch the Tiny Planets television episodes.  Their website notes that Tiny Planets TV "emphasizes science education and early learning goals, such as social and emotional development, language and literacy, problem-solving and reasoning, knowledge and understanding of our world, and creative development." 

Both Amélie and Jack enjoyed the TV episodes.  Bing and Bong are a nicely-wrapped cartoon package of lovable, entertaining, and educational!  The first episode is free, but additional episodes cost a certain number of keys.  Keys can be purchased in the parent account for the following amounts:
10 keys: $1.95
25 keys: $3.95
85 keys: $9.95
250 keys: $25.95
600 keys: $49.95

My Tiny Planets is an online community and virtual world where kids can create an avatar (their "space cadet") and "solve galactic missions with Bing and Bong, sharpen their wits with fast-paced mini-games, navigate their spaceships and avoid wormholes, adopt and care for their own planet, and nurture exotic plants in a biodome, all the while racking up achievements and special badges for their accomplishments." 

Amélie especially liked adopting and caring for her own planet (I mean, who wouldn't like to create their own planet???).  She got a little tired of the games that required spaceship navigation (I think she wished for a little more variety, perhaps?), and sometimes she got a little confused as to what she was supposed to do.  I should confess right now that I am not a fan of computer games, so I honestly don't like to figure out how to do things Amélie can't decipher.  I probably could have figured things out faster if I had a teeny, tiny bit more patience (maybe). :)

Tiny Planets Fun is a spot where kids can "enjoy brainy puzzle games (like fractions, sound and seek, and symmetry), as well as coloring books and comics."  The TV episodes are also on this site.

Amélie likes games, so she had fun deciphering the puzzles.  I liked it that the games were educational and were helping her learn concepts and symmetry in a fun way. 

"On Tiny Planets Books you'll find interactive story books for younger children featuring Bing and Bong, their friends the locals and the flockers, and all the endearing planets in the Universe of Tiny Planets. Read these books with your child, or teach your child to read on their own!" 

My kids really, really enjoy digital books (which kind of makes me a bit crazy, if you want to know the truth).  I have an app that downloads a free kids' book every day, and they are always clambering to be the first one to get to read it.  As such, they enjoyed these books, and it was fun that they had the connection of Bing and Bong from the TV Series and the games.  You can read two books for free and then purchase additional books with keys.

Tiny Planets Labs is the spot where kids can try out the games that are in the testing phase.  Amélie had fun trying out the games, although she seemed to have more fun checking out the other parts of this site.

"Tiny Planets Learning is the site for parents, homeschoolers, and educators. Here you'll find lesson plans that include educational activities and science experiments to do at home. Also, you'll see how every episode in the Tiny Planets television series maps to early learning goals."

OK, I have a confession to make.  I didn't spend very much time on this portion of the site.  The thing is...I already have my hands full doing our rather time-intensive curriculum, and I chose to use this site as a fun site for my kids...with the added perk that it was also educational.  However, it looked like there was some great information here for parents who might want to take what is offered on this website one step further.

Whew!  That was A LOT of information!  It is a huge site, though, and it takes awhile to navigate, figure out, and unlock its fun potential.  We have enjoyed having this site to play with.  One of my favorite parts is that much of it is free.  There are definitely more things to do if you purchase the keys, but it's not like some sites that I know Amélie has gotten really frustrated with because it seems like all of the fun stuff requires money.  It was fun having some keys to use up (we received 25 keys to use), and I would say it would be worth it to purchase extra keys, but I honestly am not sure that I would do so.  However, I have never bought any extra stuff on a game site, so that could just be me and how I operate.  :)

If you would like to see what my other crewmates are writing about this site, you can check out their reviews here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was provided a free copy of this product for my honest evaluation. Aside from the 25 keys deposited into my account, I was given no other compensation for this review.