Using Webkinz Pets in the Classroom - Turning Toys Into Tools - Teaching With Technology

Have you ever stood in front of your class presenting an action-filled lesson only to feel like your students were more interested in their toys and life outside of school?

So often the aspects of life that excite children the most are banned or excluded from the school curriculum. What would happen to our classrooms and the engagement levels of our students if we turn toys into learning tools? When I look inside the bags my daughters carry around with them everywhere I see their digital camera, Nintendo DS, phone, Webkinz pets, and an iPod. This made me ponder this idea: what if I could harness the enthusiasm kids have for their toys and turn them into learning tools?

As I was listening to my daughters play online one day I realized that the games they were playing weren't all arcade games but many are educational! Imagine that! Kids are raving about something that is actually educational too! I knew I needed to find out more.

If you aren't familiar with Webkinz pets, they are stuffed animals that come with an access code attached. You visit the Webkinz webpage and adopt your pet which gives you a virtual, animated pet identical to your stuffed animal. You must care for the health, hunger, and happiness of your pets. Within the world of Webkinz there is an extensive economy built around KinzCash. With the Kinzcash you earn from playing games you can purchase all kinds of items along with the food that your pet requires. If you aren't familiar with the world of Webkinz, ask any eight to ten-year-old child to give you a guided tour. Children are experts and usually very excited to teach something to an adult.

So I started asking kids what they would think about participating in some Webkinz-based activities during school. The faces of children were lighting up around me (which is every educator's desire, right?) and this clearly showed me that students would be excited to learn through these activities.

I began to create activities based on the world of Webkinz. Many of the activities could be utilized during literacy work stations. Whether children are building words in Quizzy's Word World, answering questions in Quizzy's Questions, creating a play with their pets, practicing math facts and typing, graphing their pet's hunger, growing plants in their gardens, mapping their house, or keeping track of their kinzcash, they would be learning!

Adopting classroom pets is an excellent way to begin using Webkinz pets in your classroom. In many cases, you will find that almost every child in your class probably has at least one Webkinz pet of their own. I have surveyed class after class of children and it is not easy to find a child that doesn't have at least one pet until you reach some sixth grade boys. Even then, the activities are good for that age group and beyond, so you may need a couple pets with unique logins for those students to use. I've even heard of high-school classes using Quizzy's Questions and Quizzy's Word World.

Amazingly, there are many adults who find themselves addicted to the world of Webkinz. So, if this is possible, there must be activities to engage students of all ages. I have played many of the games and can't even come close to the high scores, indicating to me that there are more than just children playing! I wonder if these adults have the stuffed animal sitting on their lap while they play like my daughters often do!

How will it change your enthusiasm for teaching if your students are eagerly awaiting the start of every school day?

Kathy Cothran is an elementary media specialist committed to helping teachers turn toys into learning tools. Her vast teaching experience ranges from preschool through Master's level education classes.

For years Kathy has been a "Gadget Girl." She loves technology! Tie that to her extensive teaching background and she has been able to interest, invigorate, and inspire children and teachers to use technology in a rich, exciting manner.

Find out more about teaching with webkinz pets and sign up for hot tips via email at http://teachingwithwebkinz.com

Interested in other ways that toys can become learning tools? Visit http://turningtoysintotools.com

Teaching Children How to Handle Rabbit Food

Rabbits are definitely one of the most popular pets, because these furry creatures are simply adorable, tame and loving. It is however important to teach children how to handle rabbit food to make sure that your pet stays healthy and gets its required dietary nutrients on a daily basis. Teaching children how to take care of pets gives them a sense of responsibility and it also helps them to bond with the pets and appreciate them better.

The first thing that needs to be done when teaching the children how to handle rabbit food is pointing teaching them about the different foods that can be consumed by rabbits and the ones that cannot. Make sure that they understand the dangers associated with feeding rabbits the wrong foods. Secondly, if the food needs preparation or cooking, pre-cook the food and freeze it to make things easier. The children can have the food de-frozen with supervision, before feeding the pet. It is also important to teach them about hygiene while handling the food to avoid contamination.

Thirdly it is important for children to know the right times to feed the pet, to avoid overfeeding it or underfeeding it. Portions are also very important when it comes to feeding rabbits and the children need to know how to measure the food before feeding the pet. It is wise to stock up on the rabbits favorite meals to avoid leaving the judgment call to children.

Finally, despite the fact that you may be tempted to give the rabbit the food that it loves, it is important to teach the children to give it a balanced diet. They should always learn to give the rabbit fresh food so that it can enjoy its meals without any complications. It is important to have a variety of food for the rabbit so that it does not get bored eating the same type of food all over again.

Remember that at the end of the day children will always be children. Depending on their age, all feeding sessions should be closely monitored to make sure that the children are actually feeding the pet food. Children should also be taught how to hold the rabbit appropriately to avoid placing the pet in dangerous situations. Keep children away from the rabbit if they consistently place the rabbit in harm's way, until you are completely sure that they understand how to respect animals.

Cleaning after the rabbit is also one of the other things that children should be taught. They should not handle the rabbit's droppings with their bare hands and they should also wash their hands after cleaning the rabbit's droppings. They should also be taught to give the rabbit space when it hops away and how to gently pet it.

Feed your Rabbit the UK's Number One Vet Approved Rabbit Food when you follow the Excel Feeding Plan today.

Ideas For Using Webkinz Pets For Learning - Teaching With Technology

You've contemplated how excited children are about these Webkinz pets. You've pondered how that could impact your classroom. Yet, you still aren't sure how to go about using this toy in school.

In the following paragraphs I am going to give you specific ideas for using this toy for learning purposes.

First, the world of Webkinz has an extensive economy based on Kinzcash. You must earn cash to support your pets. So, just maintaining a log of Kinzcash earned and spent is a learning tool for children. Earning Kinzcash happens by engaging in the games and visiting the employment office.

There are two main types of games in the arcade section. One type is just arcade type games, and the others have educational value. Some with educational value include "Quizzy's Word Challenge," "Booger Gets an A" (addition math facts), "Home Before Dark" (visual geometry skills), "Get Eleven Solitaire" and many more. With recording sheets students could keep track of their progress.

Food is an important aspect of caring for your pets. Within the land of Webkinz you can even grow your own food in your garden. You must tend your plants, water them, weed them, and then harvest. If you don't take good care of them you'll have to dig up the garden and start again. Monitoring plants is another way that the world of Webkinz is educational.

Needs and wants are inevitable in caring for your pets. There are so many neat items that you can purchase for your pets but you will have to determine the need and if you can afford the item. By setting goals and saving, you can earn enough Kinzcash to purchase the special items. Children can practice this with their Webkinz pet, and then hopefully apply this to their own lives.

Another educational tie for using Webkinz pets in the classroom revolves around the study of animals. There are all types of animal pets now, including herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. What a fun way to sort and study animals!

If we look for a moment beyond the virtual world of Webkinz we can tie these pets into writing instruction with activities such as "Make me Love Your Pet...write a descriptive paragraph about your favorite webkinz pet" or "Webkinz Theater...write and perform a play with your pets" or nonfiction animal reports.

Many of these activities are perfect during Literacy Work Station time when students are engaged in an array of various activities. I would encourage you to have each student keep a folder just for Webkinz activities.

Most children have their own Webkinz pets and would be able to participate in these activities on their own logins and accounts. For those children that don't, a class pet or two would allow all students to participate and enjoy the experience.

Whereas most people would think that the Webkinz pets and activities are geared for younger children, that isn't the case. Due to the large number of adults who are addicted to playing Webkinz, I believe that there are activities that people of all ages can benefit and learn from inside the land of Webkinz!

Kathy Cothran is an elementary media specialist committed to helping teachers turn toys into learning tools. Her vast teaching experience ranges from preschool through Master's level education classes.

Download the free "Webkinz Activity Sampler" at http://www.turningtoysintotools.com

For years Kathy has been a "Gadget Girl." She loves technology! Tie that to her extensive teaching background and she has been able to interest, invigorate, and inspire children and teachers to use technology in a rich, exciting manner.

The Hardest Lesson Of All: Teaching Children About Death

How many uses can you find for a dead fox? When I happened upon one recently whilst out walking with my children, the poor lifeless creature suddenly became the catalyst for an important family moment. It was an opportunity to talk about death. You won't find 'thanatology' on the curriculum at school, yet it's the one subject that every child will have to deal with at some point. Thanatology is the little known word used to describe death education, a taboo in our society, especially when dealing with children. They learn about birth in sex education, but our final rite of passage is rarely acknowledged by either school or home.

It is estimated by Winston's Wish, a charity that works with bereaved children and their families, that 5% of children will experience the death of a parent or sibling, and 10% will lose a parent, carer, close friend or relative. Most children will be aware of the death of someone more distant, or will lose a pet. No matter how idyllic we try to make childhood, death will always be there to cast a shadow.

The modern child's relationship to death is likely to be a puerile one. Many children are exposed to high levels of glorified violence and death through television and video games. At Halloween they play ghoulish games to confront fears about what lies beyond the grave. However, most children are unlikely to have ever seen a real dead body, or possibly even had a meaningful conversation with an adult about our final destiny. It is important that we share with children the reality of death, not in a morbid, fearful way, but as a natural process and great mystery. We all want children to inhabit a happy, positive world, but to deny them the reality of death also denies them something about the reality of life. In the words of the popular spiritual writer, the late M.Scott Peck, 'When we shy away from death, the ever-changing nature of things, we inevitably shy away from life.' Also, if we do not allow the concept of death to gently permeate children's lives, they will be ill prepared if sudden tragedy were to strike.

The children's bereavement charity The Gone Forever Project is pressing the Government and Teacher's Training Agency to include death education in the school curriculum. It wants to ensure that all teachers are trained in the awareness of the issues which surround loss and bereavement, as part of their initial training. Teachers can include death education across the curriculum, as part of emotional literacy in Personal, Social and Health Education, or funeral rituals in Religious Education. Death could also be discussed in science lessons in terms of the lifecycle of the natural world. Schools also often have to respond to real deaths, either of a pupil, a parent or teacher. My son's junior school recently held an assembly in memory of one its pupils who had died of leukaemia. Helium balloons were released by the children with goodbye messages. Holding such a ceremony was controversial amongst the staff, some of whom thought it might be unnecessarily upsetting. When I went to collect my children, many pupils were weeping. It was terribly sad, but I felt that as well as being an important farewell ritual, it also reminded us all of the value of life. Parents and children seemed to be acutely aware of how much they loved each other that day.

Parents will find that opportunities to discuss death with their children will spontaneously occur. On the simplest level you can point out to your children the cycles of birth and death that exist in nature. Notice together how the flowers first bloom, then die, how autumn and winter follow spring and summer. Discuss the ageing process by observing the physiology between old and young; and like the fox we found at the roadside, there are likely to be animal corpses to contemplate.

The death of a pet often provides children with their first experience of personal grief, and for this reason is a positive learning experience. When a child's pet dies a parent needs to be sensitive about the loss, no matter how small the animal. An important way of doing this is by making sure there is a thoughtful goodbye ritual. This reassures the child that the pet was cared for, as well as providing a focus for their bereavement. Debbie Orme runs 'Goodbye My Pet' a company that makes attractive cardboard pet coffins and grave markers. It also supplies a helpful ceremony book to guide parents and children through a simple pet funeral at home. 'I get lots of letters from families telling me how much the funeral helped them all come to terms with the loss of their pet. Parents also say that the experience enabled the family to share their beliefs and feelings in a way they wouldn't normally. Adult pet lovers have used my coffins and ceremony booklets too, with similar results.' Debbie Orme believes that although the loss of a pet is a sad event for children, if handled well, it can also become a meaningful and memorable family experience.

Children all deal with bereavement in different ways. Typically they may express their feelings through actions rather than words. Young children may wet the bed, cry and seek attention or feel unwell. Older children my display changes in personality, show sleep and appetite disturbances, find it hard to concentrate at school and become depressed. Some children may show no obvious signs of bereavement at all initially. It is quite usual for grief to come in waves and for a child to feel sad one moment, and the next seem perfectly happy. Although talking to children about the death of a person or animal that they love may be one of the hardest things we ever have to do, it is one of the most important ways we can help as they journey through their grief.

Children's levels of understanding about death

Under twos

Have little concept of death but will still miss the deceased and sense the upset.

Two to four year olds

Find it hard to understand that death is permanent, and may ask when the deceased is coming back.

Five to ten year olds

They begin to understand the finality of death, and can have lots of questions about it.

Adolescence

The finality of death is more fully understood. It may be a time of high emotions, and a reluctance to open up and share with you.

Article by Jane Bartlett and Debbie Orme for Goodbye My Pet, providers of home burial items and pet coffins. [http://www.goodbyemypet.co.uk]

Preventing Animal Abuse by Teaching Children Animal Care

It's sad to say that animal abuse is a growing problem in the United States. One recent article said that in the economic downturn, more and more pets were being abandoned, and other statistics show that in times of economic stress, abuse of all kinds-pets, children, spouses, and elders-increases measurably. Rather like small children, pets thrive on affection, structure, and positive interaction, yet in too many circumstances, this isn't what they're getting at all.

When our kids get their hands on a puppy or a kitten, when the whining and begging starts ("pleeeease? I'll take care of it, I'll feed it and walk it, you won't have to do anything..."), we do, of course, have to consider whether our family has the time and resources to give this small pet its best chance at a good, rewarding life. But before you groan at the prospect of vet bills and chewed-up slippers, think of all the things that our children can learn from taking care of pets. Being patiently taught how to care for a pet can foster the kind of empathy and responsibility in a child that can prevent animal abuse from happening in the future.

• Tell your children about animal abuse. Children have deeply good hearts; they will be appalled to hear how some people treat animals. Remind them that some people get bored with their pets and neglect them, or that they get angry and hurt them. Tell them that those actions are not acceptable, and that if you bring a pet into your home, it will not be treated like that-even when its caretakers get bored or angry.

• Remind your children that baby animals grow up. A cute, cuddly puppy or kitten will be a full-grown dog or cat in about a year. It will still be lovable and affectionate, but it won't be tiny, and it won't be as cute as it was when you couldn't resist it. A commitment to a pet is a commitment for the pet's entire life, not only when they're small and cute, but also when they're older. Getting tired of an older dog or cat is no excuse to neglect or mistreat it.

• Make it clear that the less pleasant duties will be shared by all. Yes, this means housebreaking duties. Small kittens still need to learn about the litter box, and puppies are notoriously prone to accidents. If a child isn't willing to do the icky stuff like clean the litter box and pick up the accidents, they are not doing their duty by their pet. Remind them that they wore diapers when they were little, but animals don't get to do that.

• Show them how their feelings are like the pet's feelings. Even small children can understand the connections between their experience and their pet's experience. How would your children feel if you simply "forgot" to make dinner one evening? Or if you kicked them out of the way instead of asking them politely to move? Or if you never had time to cuddle or play with them? The idea that their caregiver, the one who is supposed to love them best, would do any of those things is unthinkable, but they can grasp that they are the caregivers and love-givers to their pet, and should no more do those things to an animal than a parent would do them to a child.

Taking advantage of these simple teaching opportunities can develop empathy, kindness, and responsibility in children. The more children who develop these important qualities, the better chance we have of eradicating animal abuse for all generations.

Katherine Teel has a film blog, Kat's Film and Book Reviews (www.katsfilmandbookreviews.com) and an adoption blog, Joseph's Joy: An Adoption Blog ( [http://www.josephsjoy.com] ). She is a professional freelance writer and the mother of three.

Importance Of Teaching Kids To Train Pets

Most kids would love to have pets at home. Most kids like to have a dog or cat as a pet. Children will get a brilliant experience with pets. Pets help kids in learning about the responsibility, love, and care for a fellow living being. Parents have to give certain instructions or advice to their kids while dealing with pets. Social skills of kids can be improved by interaction with pets. Families will have a good time, where bonding can be enhanced while taking care of the pets. So many activities can be done by the families and pets together. For example, fitness can be gained by taking the pets out for a walk.

Parents can invite the kids to join them while taking care of the pets. By having a schedule for the pet care, it will become easy for you and your children in caring pets.

The responsibilities for the pet care can be shared with your children. Kids will be able to enjoy the work and makes them feel that their service is very much important to the pets. Discuss the works in prior with your children and ask them which tasks can be taken by them. Appreciate them for volunteering and remember not to force any work on them. The kid's age should also be considered while assigning the duties. The work that can be done according to their age should only be assigned to them.

The work done by the kids should be appreciated at every point of time. Parents can give their kids small rewards for their work. These activities help the kids to become independent and also to help others who depend on them. Parents should educate their kids about the importance of pets and animal life in the world. Kids should be warned and advised if they do any harmful activity to the pets. Children can be taught how to hold smaller pets by giving comfort to them. Supervise your kids while caring pets at each stage if your kids are too small. Ensure that they are not attacked by the pets. By involving kids in pet care they will get the chance to become closer with the pets and the pets too feel the same way.

Parents can teach the kids to feed them. So the pets will show a special bonding to your kids. Kids should be involved during the bath time of the pets. They can be taught about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene while caring pets. While doing the cleaning activities parents should tell them to use gloves. Children should be allowed to play with the pets as this is one way of pets getting bonded to the kids. Parents should keep an eye on them during the play time and make sure that pets are not harming the kids.

Children should be reminded once if they forget to do the committed tasks. Some kids will get bored of the repetitive tasks required during pet care. But parents should be able to convince the importance of these tasks though they are repetitive by citing few real time examples.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about kids toys, stuffed animals, and dolls. You will find the best marketplace for kids toys, stuffed animals, and dolls at these sites for kids toys, animals, and dolls.

The Hardest Lesson Of All: Teaching Children About Death

How many uses can you find for a dead fox? When I happened upon one recently whilst out walking with my children, the poor lifeless creature suddenly became the catalyst for an important family moment. It was an opportunity to talk about death. You won't find 'thanatology' on the curriculum at school, yet it's the one subject that every child will have to deal with at some point. Thanatology is the little known word used to describe death education, a taboo in our society, especially when dealing with children. They learn about birth in sex education, but our final rite of passage is rarely acknowledged by either school or home.

It is estimated by Winston's Wish, a charity that works with bereaved children and their families, that 5% of children will experience the death of a parent or sibling, and 10% will lose a parent, carer, close friend or relative. Most children will be aware of the death of someone more distant, or will lose a pet. No matter how idyllic we try to make childhood, death will always be there to cast a shadow.

The modern child's relationship to death is likely to be a puerile one. Many children are exposed to high levels of glorified violence and death through television and video games. At Halloween they play ghoulish games to confront fears about what lies beyond the grave. However, most children are unlikely to have ever seen a real dead body, or possibly even had a meaningful conversation with an adult about our final destiny. It is important that we share with children the reality of death, not in a morbid, fearful way, but as a natural process and great mystery. We all want children to inhabit a happy, positive world, but to deny them the reality of death also denies them something about the reality of life. In the words of the popular spiritual writer, the late M.Scott Peck, 'When we shy away from death, the ever-changing nature of things, we inevitably shy away from life.' Also, if we do not allow the concept of death to gently permeate children's lives, they will be ill prepared if sudden tragedy were to strike.

The children's bereavement charity The Gone Forever Project is pressing the Government and Teacher's Training Agency to include death education in the school curriculum. It wants to ensure that all teachers are trained in the awareness of the issues which surround loss and bereavement, as part of their initial training. Teachers can include death education across the curriculum, as part of emotional literacy in Personal, Social and Health Education, or funeral rituals in Religious Education. Death could also be discussed in science lessons in terms of the lifecycle of the natural world. Schools also often have to respond to real deaths, either of a pupil, a parent or teacher. My son's junior school recently held an assembly in memory of one its pupils who had died of leukaemia. Helium balloons were released by the children with goodbye messages. Holding such a ceremony was controversial amongst the staff, some of whom thought it might be unnecessarily upsetting. When I went to collect my children, many pupils were weeping. It was terribly sad, but I felt that as well as being an important farewell ritual, it also reminded us all of the value of life. Parents and children seemed to be acutely aware of how much they loved each other that day.

Parents will find that opportunities to discuss death with their children will spontaneously occur. On the simplest level you can point out to your children the cycles of birth and death that exist in nature. Notice together how the flowers first bloom, then die, how autumn and winter follow spring and summer. Discuss the ageing process by observing the physiology between old and young; and like the fox we found at the roadside, there are likely to be animal corpses to contemplate.

The death of a pet often provides children with their first experience of personal grief, and for this reason is a positive learning experience. When a child's pet dies a parent needs to be sensitive about the loss, no matter how small the animal. An important way of doing this is by making sure there is a thoughtful goodbye ritual. This reassures the child that the pet was cared for, as well as providing a focus for their bereavement. Debbie Orme runs 'Goodbye My Pet' a company that makes attractive cardboard pet coffins and grave markers. It also supplies a helpful ceremony book to guide parents and children through a simple pet funeral at home. 'I get lots of letters from families telling me how much the funeral helped them all come to terms with the loss of their pet. Parents also say that the experience enabled the family to share their beliefs and feelings in a way they wouldn't normally. Adult pet lovers have used my coffins and ceremony booklets too, with similar results.' Debbie Orme believes that although the loss of a pet is a sad event for children, if handled well, it can also become a meaningful and memorable family experience.

Children all deal with bereavement in different ways. Typically they may express their feelings through actions rather than words. Young children may wet the bed, cry and seek attention or feel unwell. Older children my display changes in personality, show sleep and appetite disturbances, find it hard to concentrate at school and become depressed. Some children may show no obvious signs of bereavement at all initially. It is quite usual for grief to come in waves and for a child to feel sad one moment, and the next seem perfectly happy. Although talking to children about the death of a person or animal that they love may be one of the hardest things we ever have to do, it is one of the most important ways we can help as they journey through their grief.

Children's levels of understanding about death

Under twos

Have little concept of death but will still miss the deceased and sense the upset.

Two to four year olds

Find it hard to understand that death is permanent, and may ask when the deceased is coming back.

Five to ten year olds

They begin to understand the finality of death, and can have lots of questions about it.

Adolescence

The finality of death is more fully understood. It may be a time of high emotions, and a reluctance to open up and share with you.

Article by Jane Bartlett and Debbie Orme for Goodbye My Pet, providers of home burial items and pet coffins. [http://www.goodbyemypet.co.uk]