Curiosityville (www.curiosityville.com)

© 2012 Curiosityville, LLC
$79, Internet Site
Teaches: early learning, reading, school subjects

CTR Review

Billing itself as a "personalized learning world for children ages 3 to 8 and their families" this subscription-based service "allows parents to guide and track their child's progress in real time." There are six themes, represented by characters. These consist of Pablo the painter, Ruby the teacher, Joe the gadget guy who is also Curiosityville's mayor, Rosie the scientist, Jack the policeman, and Olive the dancing chef. Designed to teach reading, math, science, social studies and other core skills, the site also features the Learning Tree, a real-time and interactive data-driven collection and reporting program. As a child plays in Curiosityville, the Learning Tree tracks a child's activity, automatically adjusting to a child’s learning level and interests. Every activity adapts to a child’s learning skill level within 10 Learning Areas. The Learning Tree also makes personalized recommendations for learning at home, online and in the community. Other features include learning clubs that focus on art, reading, nature, science, cooking and community service, where children can participate in contests and earn rewards and prizes; child's personal Scrapbook to save and share art created in Pablo’s Masterpiece Maker, songs composed in Joe’s Music Maker, and stories written in Ruby’s Story Master; Show and Tell Book for parents; and personalized recommendations to parents for offline play that connect to what their children learn online. Full access requires a $79 annual membership fee. There is a two week trial membership for no cost. Curiosityville was created by Susan Magsamen, the president of the L-rn (Learning Resource Network, see http://l-rn.com/faqs.htm), a national community-based movement to bring the science of play and learning to life. She is also the director of interdisciplinary partnerships at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Brain Science Institute, and serves on a number of boards for non-profit organizations. Susan also founded FamilyStories, a collection of resources for families, and Curiosity Kits, a supplemental learning company creating multi-sensory learning activities for children. This service was designed by Fablevision.