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

Learning About Animals Using Webkinz Pets

The study of animals takes place throughout the elementary years. Imagine the enthusiasm in children if learning about animals included using their favorite toys?

Within the world of Webkinz, there are animals of all sorts; dogs, cats, farm animals, wild animals, reptiles, birds, etc.

Thinking about the types of content expectations that range through the grade levels there are easy applications for hands-on and multidisciplinary learning with the Webkinz pets. Whether you are studying habitats, predators, types of animal coverings, or food chains I can show you how to harness the enthusiasm kids have for the Webkinz pets to increase the learning in your classroom.

Let's start by thinking of simple sorting exercises. There are an endless number of ways to categorize the Webkinz pets. This may depend upon which animals the children bring with them to share in this activity! But, since most children I talk to have more than twenty pets, I bet you could gather an extensive set of animals to work with in your classroom without investing in them yourself. Note: Before having children bring their pets to school, be sure that each pet is labeled with the owner's initials and all secret code documents removed.

Use hula hoops on the floor to compare the animals. The hula hoops simulate the circles of the Venn Diagram. You might use two hoops or three depending upon what characteristics you are comparing. For comparing more than three characteristics you might use meter sticks to make columns for animals instead. Some suggested classifications for sorting include: omnivore, herbivore, carnivore; color; jungle, forest, farm, or house; mammal, reptile, bird, amphibian; feathers, scales, skin, or hair; legs or wings; how many legs; pet or not pet; long hair, short hair, no hair.

During or after classifying the animals on the floor students can transfer the information onto charts or venn diagrams.

How about building a food chain or food web by laying the animals out on the floor. After creating the web it can be transferred to paper or computer (especially with a mapping software such as Inspiration or Kidspiration).

Other animal study ideas include choosing a Webkinz pet and making a brochure that is about that real animal. A tri-fold brochure could include five sections about the animal in real life. Then one segment could be about the child's Webkinz pet. This could include a digital photo.

A writing activity could include the topic, "Make Me Love Your Pet" and the child uses descriptive writing to captivate an audience with the antics of his or her pet. Or, with a photo of the pet on top, children could write Missing Pet advertisements, acrostic poems, or animal adventure tales.

These are just a couple of activities that can make learning exciting within your classroom by using the enthusiasm kids have for their toys and turning toys into learning tools.

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 a free sampler of activities for using Webkinz pets for learning at http://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.

Find out more about Kathy at http://theoriginalgadgetgirl.com

Using Pet Urns to Prepare Children for the Death of Pets

Children develop an attachment to their pets. They become their playmates and they cannot carry out most of their play activities without them. When the pet dies, most parents dread the experience of having to break the news to their children.

In an effort to protect them from the painful truth, some may be tempted to go out and buy an identical pet. However, this does not help since the relationship with the new pet will not be the same. The child will notice the difference even with identical features on the surface of the new one. However, pet urns create an easy solution for such parents.

It is important that a parent psychologically prepare the child to deal with the death of a pet. One way of doing this is buying suitable pet urns for ashes when buying the pet. The parent should then explain to the child the concept of death and the fact that the pet will not live forever. When the pet eventually dies, the child will be sad but dealing with the loss is easier since he or she expected it. The parent will have an easy time cremating the pet and putting the ashes in the urn.

The best idea is to purchase a customized urn. Most people prefer figurine designs that imitate the appearance of the pet. One could also choose to incorporate a photo of the pet on the urn. This creates a lasting memory and the child is sure that the pet is in a better place. Explaining the logic is however hard for younger children but in for older children it is easy. One can then proceed to buy a new pet and train it like the older one. Younger children will soon forget the old one and bond with the new pet, all thanks to ashes in the pet urn.

Walking your child through the grief process of losing a pet will not be easy, but take time, and having dialog with them about what has taken place, and letting them be apart of the memorial process I believe that you can turn a very difficult time into a learning and educational experience. Allow you child to express their feeling, ideas, and hurts they are experiencing.

Being their for our children and our pets are huge responsibilities that we as parents and pet owners cannot take lightly, but most work at daily.

For help with visit our website at www.peturns-online.com. At Pet Urns Online we can help you with selecting a pet memorial that will be perfect for your family.

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.