I’m really excited about a new avenue to nuture kids’ creativity and imagination called Shidonni (http://www2.shidonni.com/). In this magical place, kids ages 4-12 can animate their own imaginary animals and worlds and then play with them by caring, feeding, dressing, and playing with them through a set of challenging and fun games. This is not your average online world (think Webkinz) for kids, in which they take ready-made parts and add them to established templates to play games and win pretend money they can spend in the virtual store to win unimaginative prizes. No sir! Shidonni encourages children to actually create and develop their own ingenious worlds. They can go wherever their imagination takes them!

Shidonni purposely uses very little written text as possible, allowing even pre-school children to play and enjoy the site independently. Younger children will enjoy doodling and playing with their creations as they come to life, while older children will be able to enjoy more elaborate games and text-based activities.

You can sample the world of Shidonni by clicking the image below. Registration is free and requires setting up an account. If you would like to try Shidonni out before registering, click the elephant’s orange sign and then the “Give It a Try” button next to the worm.  

For a sure-to-please birthday, holiday, or I love you gift, you can have your child’s Shidonni animal creation made into an actual stuffed animal. How awesome would it be for your child to see his or her creation come to life not only on the computer screen but also as a stuffed animal? Way cool!

Happy creating,

Paige