Tiny Planets Review

Tiny Planets is a website that features the adventures of two cute aliens named Bing and Bong. They travel the universe on a sofa which acts as their spaceship.  The purpose of the website is to be a place where "children are encouraged to think for themselves, assume social responsibility, take care of our planet and learn about the mysteries of space."

Being geared towards children ages 4 - 12 years old, my children are a bit older than that so it wasn't really appropriate for them to enjoy.  However, I was able to spend some time on the website to see what it is all about.

There are six different facets to the website as follows:

Tiny Planets TV is where you can watch episodes of the TV show of the same name. 

This series was co-created with Sesame Workshop and emphasizes science education and early learning goals, such as social and emotional development, language and literacy, problem-solving and reasoning, knowledge and understanding of our world, and creative development. Tiny Planets is the only television program to be endorsed by Montessori Centre International, and it's been a favorite in nearly 100 TV territories around the world. 

 

My Tiny Planets is a virtual world and online community where kids can interact and play games while learning about space.

Children create an avatar (affectionately called their “Space Cadet”), solve galactic missions with Bing and Bong, sharpen their wits with fast-paced mini-games, navigate their spaceships and avoid wormholes, adopt and care for their own planet, and nurture exotic plants in a biodome, all the while racking up achievements and special badges for their accomplishments.

 

Tiny Planets Fun is a place where your child can enjoy brainy puzzle games, as well as coloring pages and comics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny Planets Books is where you will find interactive story books featuring Bing and Bong.  These are geared toward younger children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny Planets Learning is designed for parents and educators and has lesson plans that included science experiments and activities to help you know how to incorporate the different parts of Tiny Planets into your learning and teaching experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny Planets Lab is the place where new games and ideas are tried and tested. 

 

 

 Keeping our children safe while online is a constant concern for many parents (me included!), so I was pleased to know that this website is ad-free which means your kiddos cannot accidentally access something unsavory.  Also, even though there is a social community where your kids can interact with other kids online, there is no free form chat.  Your child communicates with other players by using emoticons and speech bubbles that contain fun phrases that have been programmed into the game.  And your child chooses his/her cadet name and planet name from an auto name generator.  Tiny Planets is also certified by ICRA, a rating system provided by Family Online Safety Institute http://www.fosi.org/ an international, non-profit organization of Internet leaders working to develop a safer Internet. 

 

Some of the content on Tiny Planets is totally free. So, you can try it out without any cost to see if it is something you and/or your child is interested in.  They also offer some of the content for a fee, like various episodes on Tiny Planets TV or premium avatar accessories in My Tiny Planets. "In fact, in My Tiny Planets you can really amp up the fun by “going pro” on mini-games (which puts your top score up on the leaderboard), converting your asteroid to a planet with its own location in space, acquiring spiffy spaceships, and totally decking out your planet with outrageous buildings or amazing skies."

You can unlock these special features with KEYs. To buy KEYs, you'll need to set up a parent account, and then link that parent account to your children's player accounts. With your parent account you can purchase KEYs and then allocate them to any of your children. 

KEYs are sold in packages through Social Gold.  Purchase KEYs when you need them, or opt for a monthly allotment.   The prices are as follows:

• 10 keys    $1.95 
• 25 keys    $3.95   
• 85 keys    $9.95  
• 250 keys  $25.95 
• 600 keys  $49.95 

I feel sure that younger children than mine would really enjoy Tiny Planets and parents can feel secure in knowing that it is a safe website where their children can play games, be creative and have fun!

If you would like to see what other TOS Crew member thought of this product, click here and read their reviews.

 I received access to this website for free in return for an honest review. I have not received financial reimbursement for my review of Tiny Planets.