Review of Webkinz
August 2nd, 2007
Latest kids’ favourite cuddly toys and very popular accompanying virtual world.
Last week saw a visit to West Cork of the American “fake cousins” as our children called them. AKA our good friends, the Pierces and their 3 kids.
We don’t see Eoin, Jill, Kian, Aine and Rianna that often anymore due to both our families growing and the geographical divide that is the Atlantic Ocean, but it is always brilliant when we do meet up as its great craic and very enjoyable. It takes no time for the usual banter to start.
Much to the delight of Oscar and Oisín, they came bearing Webkinz gifts: a soft furry leopard and a cuddly boxer dog. Each had a code attached which facilitated entry to www.webkinz.com. This is a virtual world in which your pet lives. He has its own room(s) and garden. You have to take care of it, that is, feed it, play with it, get its health checked etc etc.
You can earn money to buy it clothes, food, furniture and lots of other stuff, by answering trivia quizzes, doing puzzles, playing games.
There are a huge number of different games to play, at various difficulty levels. I really liked the games tried so far. Some very basic but getting the boys to think logically and decipher codes. The quizzes ranged in topics from maths, science, arts, health, language and social science.
You can add friends of other webkinz pets and send them messages. You can purchase more pets and have them interact. You can buy seeds and grow virtual vegetables to sell.
We have only touched on the range of activities on the site, its huge. The boys are loving it and Sibéal is eager to get her own pet and login now too. It seems easier to navigate than www.clubpenguin.com as its immediately focussed on the pet rather than you wandering around deciding where to go and what to do. In clubpenguin you are the penguin going from place to place and possibly interacting with other penguins. Here, you are looking after your pet. So clubpenguin has been abandoned since the arrival of the webkinz toys.
As far as I know, the toys can only be purchased in the US or Canada at the moment. Though the webkinzpetstore say they ship worldwide.
UPDATE: webkinzpetstore.com have never replied to my mail enquiring as to shipping costs to Ireland. But I found many ebay shops on www.ebay.ie that do supply Ireland and purchased a lovely pink webkinz pony for the 3 year old who is well happy now!
Rated /5 on Aug 02 2007 by ManicMammy
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8 Comments Add your own
1. The LouderVoice Blog - Lo&hellip | August 8th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
[...] just found out that one of the most prolific bloggers on LouderVoice, ManicMammy, was referenced by the Wall Street Journal in an article about virtual pets and [...]
2. Webkinz Seller | October 23rd, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I think it is great that there is a toy that is popular for both boys AND girls in this age group. So many other toys for Tweens seem to be very one-sex-oriented. While I know that it is important for children to explore their sexual differences at this age, it is nice that they can still find some common ground in Webkinz.
3. Saul | January 13th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Hey!
I just read your shpeil about webkinz..
i have four webkinz..
if you are from Cork(like me)
you can get them in Marys Toymaster in Macroom
World Of Wonder in blackpool and Bandon
and in Charleville also..
i have a tiger,frog,raccoon and husky
just thought id let you know!
see ya!
saul
4. Manic Mammy | January 13th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Hi Saul,
Thats great news that they’ve finally made it into local shops. Saves the hassle of buying them on ebay.
Many thanks for the info!
5. Saul | January 14th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
No bother
there 12:99 for Webkinz
and 9:99 for LilKinz in Marys Toymaster.
thats where i bought mine
they don’t have them yet in the other shops but they will in march or april
your best bet is Mary’s Toymaster in Macroom
by the way
do your lads ever have difficulty loging in?
i have only ever been able to get on twice
do you know why?
noone else i know has them so thy can’t solve the problem…
6. Manic Mammy | January 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hi Saul,
No, we havent had any problems logging in yet, thankfully.
I know there have been upgrades and changes to the site lately, but it doesn’t seem to have affected our logging in.
Sorry I can’t be of more help.
7. Ann | January 18th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I am completely addicted to the games on Webkinz. My nephew has the poodle and he very kindly lets me use his login so I can rack up money for him. Sometimes, I buy the poodle a silly hat or something so the next time my nephew logs in, he knows I’ve been there. I’d get my own webkinz, but I’m afraid it would be all I would do!
8. Manic Mammy | January 18th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Yep Ann,
I have to confess I’m the same. Three of the kids have webkinz so I am really sad and play tournaments to get kinzcash in the evenings so that they can get stuff the following day. The 4 year old is particularly fond of buying clothes for her pony.
I’ll send them presents from each other, or look after their plants!
I’m a bit partial to “home before dark” or “operation gumball”. Scary
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