JumpStart.com - An Exciting Virtual 3d Avatar World for Kids

JumpStart.com is an exciting world developed just for kids. Just like its adult-only counterparts, this world allows kids to create their own avatar (called a Jumpee). However, unlike its adult equivalent, this virtual world offers children adventure-based learning opportunities that surpass most other educational websites on the Internet. With stunning graphics, wonderful lands to explore and inviting games based on U.S. national education standards, JumpStart.com is a website that you can trust not only to entertain, but also to educate.

Sign Up and Install the Plugin

The first step you'll need to take if you'd like your child to explore this exciting world for kids is to register a new account. You'll need an adult's email address, and you can add as many children as you like to your parental account. After you log in with your account credentials, you'll see the launch screen where your child can click the dropdown box to select their name from the list.



The benefit to this approach (making you log in with your parental account) is that your kids can't play without your permission. Additionally, having all of your kids under your one account makes it so that they don't need to remember any login details. When you select "Launch" the first time, you'll need to install an application called UnityWebPlayer.exe (which is perfectly safe). This plugin allows your browser to play the embedded application that will display the virtual world.

Getting Started on Jump Start

The very first time your child logs in, they'll be presented with a fun initial tour of the virtual 3D avatar world. Then, they start their virtual adventure by creating their very first Jumpee.



At this stage, they can make their Jumpee 3D avatar look however they like. The character can look just like them, or they can make the avatar look like someone else, or as funny or silly as they like. Once they're done creating the Avatar, your child is immediately immersed into the JumpStart world.



They can explore over bridges, pathways and hills into areas of the world called AdventureLand, Movie House, Petz Shop, Arcade and much more. It's very much like a very large theme park that your child can explore. Each area is marked with the appropriate age level for that zone. For example, in the image above the sign shows that Futureland has games and activities for kids aged 8 to 10 years old.

Playing Games and Completing Missions

The ultimate goal at in Jump Start world is for the child to collect "Jump Stars" by exploring and playing games or completing exciting missions. With a free account, there will be some game levels that are locked, but every area has some games for the free account so the free game play is still fun.



Parents will appreciate the fact that a very large majority of the games are educational and focus on the sort of skills and developmental areas that children require at that age level. This means that by playing what your child will consider a "game," they are actually taking part in an activity that's designed to help them accelerate their educational advancement.



Children will learn important skills and get a head start with the sort of lessons that they can expect to see in their school classroom. There are excellent learning games that teach important lessons such as counting money, spelling or mathematics. Of course, no virtual world would be complete without the occasional arcade style game thrown in for the kid's enjoyment, and JumpStart is no exception.



This children's virtual world has its fair share of games where the goal is simply to run, turn and hop through obstacle courses or to accomplish specific missions within a certain time period. While these are certainly not quite as educational as many of the other games in this virtual community, it's also important for kids to enjoy the world as a place to just relax and have a good time if you'd like them to look forward to coming back and exploring more.

JumpStart.com offers this entire online world in a limited fashion for free, but you can also purchase a fairly inexpensive (currently $7.99 per month) paid account which opens up all areas and all games to your children. So pull your kids off of those mindless gaming consoles and introduce them to JumpStart.com, where they'll only think that they're playing video games while they're actually learning important educational lessons at the same time. Just don't let them know that the games are actually good for them!