Moving at the Speed of Creativity - That igloo is getting pretty fancy

That igloo is getting pretty fancy

Published by Wesley Fryer in creativity, design, games, literacy, socialnetworking on June 4th, 2007

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My 9 year old showed me his Club Penguin igloo this evening:

Getting pretty fancy! At last count I think he had 7 puffs, but he doesn’t always feed them regularly. He says he’s feeding just 3 of them because he wants 4 of them to run away, but that strategy hasn’t proven effective for the past several days. (They keep hanging around!)

He’s eyeing some wall torches as well as snow clumps to add to his igloo, which can be used as “a footstool or turned into a big snowball!” He is also considering an upgrade to the “dance floor” igloo, which has the entire floor as a pattern of light-changing colored squares.

His igloo is pretty modestly furnished compared to some of the winners of the recent igloo interior design contest, detailed in the latest Club Penguin newspaper. (Available in-world only: “The Ultimate Venue Igloo Design Contest.”) Amazing how creative both the players of Club Penguin are, as well as the game designers.

This is his current Club Penguin avatar:

To everyone who might say, “What a waste of time,” consider how much READING is going on in the Club Penguin environment for young players like my son. He told me there is a book store in Club Penguin, and he’s even read two books there! (Note: This was NOT done for AR points, it was just for fun!) I had a question about pets and puffs, so he took me to the Pet Store and opened the available digital reference book, “Adopting and Caring for Your Puffle.” This eBook includes lots of details about adopting puffs, feeding them, and the temperament differences of various puffs.

It is amazing to see all the learning, literacy development, creativity and fun which is possible in a virtual world like Club Penguin!

Technorati Tags: clubpenguin, games

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3 Comments »

http://durffsblog.blogspot.com/ Mrs. Durff

Isn’t that a pay site? I’m stingy.
http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

You can play Club Penguin for free but if you want to buy things and have your own igloo it costs. At this point I think it is worth the expense. So many destinations for young kids are almost 100% about advertising, and there is no advertising on Club Penguin. The creativity of the games, the challenges, the stuff they can buy with their virtual coins they earn playing games…. it is all very engaging. I am all for free stuff, but I think this is a good example of some creative people innovating and creating something out there that really fills a niche. If there was a “free version” of Club Penguin that included advertising I suppose we would play that, but I’m glad there is not. I think kids are subjected to way too much advertising and I’m glad for them to have an engaging and interactive online destination that is devoid of media marketing. If you haven’t checked out Club Penguin, I’d recommend getting an experienced young person to serve as your tour guide. Alexander may do a podcast interview later this summer telling more about what he does there and the things he’s learned. It’s quite fun! Not somewhere to spend all your free time, but definitely an engaging place to “play” virtually from time to time.
ahf

Wes, here’s another article about interactive sites for kids.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/technology/06doll.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2