Thing # 6 Who's a Tool?

          While browsing around the Web 2.0 award sites, I immediately noticed one called Kidopo (http://www.kidopo.com/).  Since I have kids of my own, I thought this would be worth checking out.  It was so worth it!  I even bookmarked it (well, to be honest, my husband had to show me how to do it first … but, then I really did do it myself).  Upon opening the site, I was immediately greeted with a rainbow of vibrant colors and kid-friendly icons.  I clicked on the ‘About Us’ link at the bottom of the page and found out that Kidopo is a small start-up company that is “aiming to improve children’s basic skills of reading, drawing, math, crafts and computers – preparing them for tomorrow’s world.”  Not too shabby; I’m all for helping kids succeed.

The website is very easy to read and quite user-friendly.  The main icons are at the top of the pages and consist of Games, Coloring Pages, Printables, Videos, and Crafts.  Within each major topic icon are smaller specialized icons from which kids can choose.  For example, on the Games page there are a number of games ranging from silly to more serious – The Dating Show, Math Man 2, Test My History, 50 Optical Illusions, etc.  The Coloring page has categories like – Animals, Food, Holidays, Learning, Seasons, etc. The Printables page is full of designs for Awards, Bookmarks, Mazes, Writing Paper, etc.  The Crafts page is stuffed with ideas for Cooking, Holidays, Science, Origami, etc.  The last icon, Videos, has popular cartoon shows like – Hello Kitty, Sonic X, Woody Woodpecker, Super Mario Brothers, etc.

I am so psyched about this website!  It can definitely be used in schools and libraries.  It is so thorough.  It does a terrific job taking the popular things that attract kids and blending it with education.  Although I liked it, I had to try it out on my own kids just to be sure.  Since they rarely get to use the internet, they were so excited to “test it out for mommy and assess if it is appropriate” (they love being the test subjects for my classes).

Check it out here: http://www.kidopo.com/