JumpStart Review & Give Away!

I was recently contacted by JumpStart to try out their new 3D virtual world, write a review, and offer you a great giveaway for our 1500 Subscriber Celebration!

JumpStart is a 3-D virtual world is focused on developing academic and logic skills. The online environment is safe and secure for kids as they interact, learn, and enjoy! Each child gets to personalize their own “Jumpee” (avatar). They get to pick hair, eyes, clothes, shoes, etc. They even get to pick a fun goofy name to identify their “Jumpee”. As they play through the games, they earn Jump Stars which they can spend in the JumpStart store to decorate their own rooms.

Once the game starts there are different levels to explore based on your child’s age. (Though you can enter any of the areas you choose).

3-5 year olds:

• StoryLand

Kindergarten to 2^nd grade:

• AdventureLand
• MarineLand (an underwater adventure)

Kids from 3rd to 5th grade:

• FutureLand

Our experience playing the game:

• My 7yr old: She loved the games! She did have a hard time at the very start learning to navigate her way around the map and games. I had to help her figure out how to use the map to go to new adventure locations. Some games don’t allow you to use a mouse and the keyboard arrows were a new thing for her, but she picked it up quite quickly. Her favorite area was the “MarineLand” Underwater Adventure!
• My 5yr old: He needed help with this, just learning to maneuver the “Jumpee” using the keyboard and mouse was somewhat difficult, but after some practice he has gotten the hang of it. Some games are definitely too difficult for him at this point. He did like playing the games, his favorite areas were the “Buggy Racer” and “Launch Pad”.
• My 4yr old: This was her first experience on a computer game, and she really isn’t quite ready I don’t think. She didn’t quite understand how to maneuver the mouse or keyboard and gave up. That is mostly my fault as I haven’t had her on the computer at all until now.
• My notes: I liked most of the games, the kids definitely had fun playing them. And I’m all for using whatever means available to help make the learning process more fun. While I do limit the amount of time our kids spend on the Wii, computer games, or TV, I think it can be a very effective learning tool if used appropriately.

JumpStart also offers a blog for parents where they share even more ideas on everything from how to make the most of their games to crafts, learning tips and forums for parents. Their blog is an excellent resource!

I also made a fun workbox card.

Download the JumpStart workbox card here!

Visit JumpStart:

• Jumpstart Blog
• JumpStart Website

Now for the Give Away! ~ CONTEST IS CLOSED~

JumpStart has generously offered a 3-month subscription to their 3-D virtual adventures for one of my readers!

There are 3 ways to enter this contest. Make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry!

• Visit JumpStart and tell me what your favorite character bio is (Hint: it’s on the “About JumpStart” drop down menu.)
• Check out the Jumpstart Blog and leave a comment with something you liked from it.
• Follow or subscribe to my blog, leave a comment!

Disclosure: I was provided with a JumpStart membership at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.