Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Keeping Busy on a Rainy Day: Hello, WebKinz!

Okay, okay, I know I mentioned WebKinz in my last post, but the weather kept my kids inside and stir-crazy all day. After we’d exhausted all our other options—five rounds of Uno, one stack of library books and one lame Nickolodeon movie, my kids uttered, “I’m bored.”

There’s one place online we love to visit together, yup, WebKinz. I try to stay away from game sites as a rule--I just get sucked in. Every since Nintendo’s Tetris, I know how easily I get pulled into games (probably why I’m not as vigilant with my Facebook status as I should be). So, if you dare, visit WebKinz with your kids or wait til there in bed and go on by yourself.

If you’re a WebKinz newbie, here’s how it works. You buy the stuffed animal at your local kids’ clothing store—I find the best deals at Justice for Girls. The stuffed animal has a tag with a code on it. WARNING: Be careful, don’t let your son/daughter/hubby/significant other/dog rip the tag off the stuffed animal—you’ll need it. Enter the code online to “register” your animal. You’ll find an online version of your stuffed animal with a room to decorate and all sorts of activities to explore. I go straight for the arcade (under the Things to Do tab)—so should you.

Here’s my favorite games:
1)Polar Plunge: I’ve never made it to the end despite hours of trying. You’re a little polar bear on skis trying to make it past igloos, trees and such.

2)Zingoz Pie Throw: Like the title says, you just chuck pies at this little cartoon character. Silly, but therapeutic.

3)Quizzy’s Word Challenge: Hey, look the kids are learning how to spell! With this game you have to spell out as many words as you can with the letter tiles provided.

PS, anytime the system is slow loading my kids are convinced it’s a conspiracy on the part of the folks who man Neopets!

Okay, I’ve admitted my game addiction, what’s yours?