Thank you to Fooz Kids for providing me with an All-In-One pack to review. The opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint.
My boys love playing on the computer and I have to admit that I haven’t been a big fan of it until recently. There are a couple of reasons why I didn’t like to let them play, the first being that I hated them constantly accidentally closing the browser, clicking on files, deleting files or just plain scrambling anything in general. The second is that I’m a busy mom and I didn’t like having to sit with them and type in all the different websites that they wanted to go to play some games. It’s time consuming and frustrating when I have to explain to my three year old that he just can’t play the games that his older brothers are playing because he doesn’t have the understanding or dexterity to do so. So, I only let them play on occasion.
This last week I was able to review Fooz Kids, a kid friendly internet browser. I LOVE IT! It is such an awesome find. The best feature about Fooz Kids is that it is the only thing that the kids have access to when they are playing online. It is impossible for them to click on anything that minimizes, can be deleted or rearranged. The parent can easily exit out of the program at any time using a password. If the child tries to exit the password message comes up. Of course, if the parent chooses not to have the password protection that’s an option too. I love that I don’t have to worry about what they are playing or doing online because only kid friendly material is accessible.
The kids love it because they have a visual menu that showcases dozens of popular children’s characters from pre-k to pre-teen. They simply have to scroll through the menu and look for the picture of the site that they are trying to find. They never have to type in a web address! I love that the kids can navigate from place to place without my assistance. They love the independence and, quite frankly, so do I. In addition to other kid friendly sites they also have a menu of educational videos. My kids loved watching the videos about bugs. The only thing that the menu doesn’t offer a link to that I would like to see added is a link to NetFlix because my boys love to play kids show and movies all the time. That would be an awesome addition in my opinion.
As I mentioned earlier, parents have total control over what they want their child to have access too. I have three kids so I have set up three identities for online play. I love that that if I don’t want my 3 year old to have access to some of the pre-teen or more adult humor based cartoons then I can remove them from his menu options. This also works great when I find the sites that have games that are above his playing skills. If they are not part of the menu then he doesn’t have the option to play – which avoids so much frustration for us both. Yet, I can still allow access for my older sons to play them when they are signed on. So far, the only problem that I have encountered when they are playing games was one game in particular needed to have some software downloaded. I like that they boys don’t have access to download applications but even after I exited Fooz Kids, went back to the site and downloaded the application using internet explorer, I went back into Fooz Kids and then we still weren’t able to access that particular game. So far, that is the only time that it’s been a problem. All of the other games have worked just fine.
There are tons of thing for kids to do when they play online with Fooz Kids. They have access to printable arts and crafts. They can show off and share what they create with friends and family. Your child can personalize their avatar and decorate their virtual room in a way that expresses their unique individuality. Each child also has their own dashboard where they can send and receive messages from friends, update their profile and more.
As the parent I have a dashboard too. I can see all the messages that my kids see and I can also send messages to them. But, to be totally honest, my kids don’t really use the dashboard. They have spent all their time focused on the games and videos. Now that school is starting back up next week I plan to have them spend more time in Fooz Kids University where they have access to 20,000 practice skills that align with school curriculum and are broken down by grade level. I love the Fooz Kids University because I don’t think that my sons’ teachers give them enough homework and this will be a fun and exciting way for them to get in some extra practice.
Since I have started my Fooz Kids membership my kids have used it everyday. It’s really nice that my 3 three old can navigate the web all by himself and I don’t have to worry about what he’s clicking. It’s a great step towards independence for BOTH of us. I’m sure that if you try it you will love Fooz Kids just as much as I do!
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Please click here to learn more about Fooz Kids. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #cleverfooz
My niece would love that! I am so glad they are aiming things towards children.