Virtual Kids


Virtual KidsI am a massive Nerd.

There is not much about the internets I don’t know.

So bcause of this bias I am hesitant to over hype the potential of the internet to engage kids… I just don’t want to pump resources into developing tools for ministering to kids if they won’t show much fruit.

But we are starting a new pre-teen age group next year and so are developing a log-in website for them (Stole the idea from the Group Publishing Curriculum Grapple).

But this article makes for compelling reading about the potential for online social networks for kids!

Virtual worlds for kids take off

While much media and analyst attention has been paid to the growth in social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, the rapid growth in games sites and virtual worlds targeted at younger children has largely slipped beneath the radar.

Yet sites like Webkinz and interactive dressing-up sites aimed primarily at young girls are proving very popular. Cartoon Doll Emporium, for example, aimed at children between six and 16, now has around 3 million visitors a month, while Stardoll, aimed at children aged between seven and 17, claims 8.8 million members.

And Disney is just the latest of the big media groups to get into the pre-teen market. In 2005, Viacom - owner of MTV and Nickelodeon - bought Neopets, an interactive cartoon gaming site that claims to have 143 million Neopet “owners”,for $150m.

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November 30th, 2007
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Tina
Posted on:
December 1, 2007 at 5:42 pm

We tried Grapple and it didn’t work. The kids could care less about voting, about looking ahead at what they were studying. They come to group, but the whole website thing was a bomb.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Dave Wakerley
Posted on:
December 2, 2007 at 1:35 am

Thanks for your feedback Tina… did your kids use the site for anything at all??

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Tina
Posted on:
December 2, 2007 at 8:41 am

Dave,

There are about 25 kids in that class (they don’t all attend every week, but I average about 18) and a couple of the girls voted on the games.

A few of the boys in our church get online and call each other to play violent video games - they won’t take the time to do it if it isn’t “cool”.

I email their parents weekly with a blast of “this is what we are doing, this is the next Sunday afternoon get together (which they love), this is what the small group is studying and this is how you as a parent can be empowered to study this material with your child.”

The points questions - my child was the only one that even attempted to answer them and bring them to class for the points for her team. Every week she was there they won. But that didn’t even entice the other teams to get online and look up the questions for points.

I just didn’t find it worth the trouble of assigning passwords, etc. We are punting and trying something different with this age group.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Steve
Posted on:
December 3, 2007 at 1:10 am

Hey bro! I want to thank you for your blog. I’m a children’s pastor in Tennessee, with an Aussie for an administrative genius. We’re trying to offer our kids the coolest environments possible, without killing ourselves trying to keep up with Disney, etc. I’m wanting to delve into the web world to make our splash with our kids, but where and how to start? One thing we’ve added in the last six months are the Hillsong DVDs for our worship times and all the kids love the songs. I love them too! They’re great musically and theologically significant (most of them) on a level kids can understand. No more Father Abraham for us.