Driving Kids in Mail.ru:
http://my.mail.ru/apps/591787

Driving Kids Community in Mail.ru:
http://my.mail.ru/community/drivingkids/

Albymedia company announces the open beta test of Driving Kids, a safe, entertaining and educative MMO game for preschool and early school kids.

October 10, 2010 — Driving Kids by Albymedia is an edutainment massive multiplayer online game with free registration and free unlimited play time. On May 13, 2010 it was awarded as the best game Flash GatAMM! Contest in Moscow, in the “Women’s choice” category. A lot of kids have already discovered its world of challenging mini-games, and their parents do not worry about the safety and confidence, as the online chat is moderated, and the whole atmosphere of the game motivates the players to interact in a friendly way. Now all the players can enjoy the favorable changes in the game content and interface; [a truck], [a submarine], [an apple].

First, the registration process and the graphical user interface have been adapted for little players, which cannot read yet. Every task is accompanied by an animated tutorial with detailed instructions. The chat offers a wide range of emoticons and other icons, so that kids who cannot type could exchange messages with their friends. Besides, the updated game map helps the players orientate themselves in the world of Driving Kids without getting lost or confused; [a train], [a gear], [a ship].

It should be also noted that the updated user profile offers new opportunities – for example, the player can use items, dress his or her avatar with various clothes, visit friends, etc. The players can see each other’s home country and its flag – that is, meeting kids from other countries and communicating with them, little players broaden their outlook and learn more about foreign countries and culture. As for the Premium Membership, it is usually paid for, but the promo code gives you the chance to get instant access to all in-game resources: all locations, mini-games, tutorials, garments and furniture in the in-game shops and all game functions, including extended friend list and postcards; [a helicopter], [a ball], [a chest].

No doubt that both parents and their kids will appreciate the new mini-games focused on training the kids’ mental math skills and learning English words. All the mini games of Driving Kids are based on the principle of edutainment – kids learn new things and train their skills without any strain, enjoying the process and having a lot of fun! In addition to this, the players are encouraged to achieve higher results by 15 different awards featured by Driving Kids; [a truck], [a magnifier], [an apple].

Have you found the parts of the promo code? The sequence of 12 words corresponds to the sequence of images, which should be chosen during registration. This promo code activates free Premium Membership and access to all Driving Kids features for a month!

Pricing and Availability

Being a browser game, Driving Kids can be played under almost any operating system that has an Internet browser. The registration at game.drivingkids.com is free.

Links

Game link: game.drivingkids.com
Site of the Game: www.drivingkids.com
Company website: www.albymedia.com

Driving Kids postcards look like this!

Learn how to send kids’ postcards and how to manage your mailbox’s contents!

The Driving Kids postcard library now contains 10 illustrated items with short messages, and that’s just the beginning!

Look for fun e-postcards for kids? Look into our online catalogue!

To choose the kid you want to send a postcard to, there are two options:
1.    Open your friends list and choose a driving kid you want to say hi to. Then click the envelope icon at the bottom of the friends panel.
2.    Find a driving kid who’s online in any location and click on him. You’ll see four bubbles: click the bubble with the envelope icon.

The e-postcard catalog will be opened immediately. Flip through the pages by clicking on the right corner of the catalog (marked with an arrow).

Choose a postcard to send in our free game for kids!

When you find the right postcard, click on it. The postcard will be put on the table on top of the envelope.

Driving Kids postcards look like this!

Ready to send? Put a stamp on the envelope (the stamp is near your left hand) and your mail will fly away to the recipient’s mailbox.

Your e-postcard for a driving kid is in the envelope...

Tips:

• To answer a postcard, open it and click on the green pen (you’ll find it above the envelope on your left).
• To throw away an old postcard, select it and click on the silver lighter twice. The postcard will vanish completely, so think twice before you do this!

Making a postcard takes some time. So please donate some auro for the postcards you buy. Every little bit demonstrates your appreciation to the postcards’ creators for their art

The International Olympiad in Informatics is one of the most recognized computer science competitions in the world. The competition tasks are of algorithmic nature; however, the contestants have to show such basic IT skills as problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, programming and testing.

Team of Belarus, IOI 2010 competition: Gennady Korotkevich, Pavel Kalinnikov, Yauheni Hrytskevich and Aliaksei Kolesau.

Official site of IOI: http://www.ioinformatics.org/

Kids, the day is ours! Let’s paint the town red today!

Parents — thank you for bringing a new unique universe called a child into this world.

Children — thank you for bringing meaning to our lives.

We wish for every family to sweeten this day with hugs, chat and fun kids’ games!

Don’t forget that every day is children’s day!

We proudly report that on May 13, 2010 the Driving Kids educational online Flash game for children won the competition for best Flash game at Flash GAMM! Moscow 2010 in the “Women’s choice” category.

Our online game for kids was chosen from among dozens of worthy rivals. We sincerely thank the women from the focus group who thought so highly of us! Thanks to the Flash GAMM! team for the friendly atmosphere, knowledgeable speakers and skill in bringing together people who are passionate about Flash games.

Mothers know, if anyone does, how to bring up their kids in the digital age! Join us in bringing up the new generation…and creating a new style for online playing for kids!

Yours truly and drivingly,
Driving Kids creators’ team.

Best flash game in the Women's Choice category: Driving Kids educational game is the winner at Flash GAMM! Moscow 2010

Driving Kids Team

Stevanne Auerbach, Smart Play Smart Toys: How to Raise a Child with a High PQ

Book’ Title:

Smart Play Smart Toys
How to raise a child with a high PQ – play quotient

Book’ Author:
Stevanne Auerbach (aka Dr. Toy), Ph.D
DrToy.com

Book’ Key Point:
“To assist your child in succeeding with skill-building, we will look at different ways your child uses toys, and you’ll become informed about finding the right toys, and skilled at helping child expand his or her PQ”

Have you ever tried to talk about upbringing as about an amazing game? As far as we are children games’ developers, we’ll try to do that way, defining “genres” of literature about upbringing and children development in own original and a little bit “digital” way…

Childhood: user-guide, FAQ, walkthrough
There’re some books for parents which similar to hardware or software manual or user’s guide: highly informative, precise, strict, comprehensive, and with a note of thank to the Dear Reader (Customer, Parent) at the first page. There’re also books which look like FAQ: more user-friendly, may be read from any page, useful in certain cases (but seem to be useless when readers ask more complicated questions than “How to pay for my account” or “How to calm the youngster down in the supermarket”).

And, there’re books which resemble role-played games’ walkthrough. It specifies frames, notices the characters and items you shouldn’t pass by, shows the secret doors – shortly, focuses on significant things you may disregard. You think you can do without a walkthrough… until you once have it.

Walkthrough’s main distinction from another “genres” is that it gives you a presence effect. It features everything without eliminating the magic, the atmosphere, the quintessence of the world described. That’s why we put Stevanne Auerbach’ “Smart Play Smart Toys” on our  “walkthrough” bookshelf – among our own magic wand, mysterious box with everything-kids-need, and the sincerest and wisest books focused on children’ development.

Who’s the perfect reader?
Do you know who are you for your newborn child? You’re his or her… “Big Toy”! It’s you who attract child’ first attention, makes him or her smiling, serene, curious… Parents who’re not taken aback with such statement and who’re ready to climb down an adults’ mountain and to sit and play with their children on the floor – if there’re you, this book is for you.

Besides, there’s one more condition for successful reading. Parents who dare at exploring their children’ universe with “Smart Play Smart Toys,” should be ready to be fair with their self. They should be ready not only to their children’ knowledge but to self-exploring and self-education too. Small tip-block “Some questions to ask yourself about toys in your childhood” is a good example of how Stevanne Auerbach makes parents mentally and emotionally involved in reading and helps them to understand their kids better.

What’s the point?
A person begins to understand the world from the first days of living. And the first available way to do it is play. But play is not only an entertainment: it’s both art and science. Baby, toddler, preschooler, primary school child, older child – whoever your kid be, he or she deserves appropriate developing toys and activities, and Dr. Toy discovers it in large quantities.

Developing playing skills, we may develop other own abilities: physical and cognitive skills, creativity, and intellectual potential. The author appeals to IQ, intelligence quotient, to describe PQ, play quotient: it’s “an equally vital factor which affects how well your young one will attain the best of his physical, creative, and intellectual potential.”

Every phase of development has its certain achievements and difficulties. Some perspectives are proposed; some reefs are noticed. And if the Stevanne Auerbach’ playguide won’t help parents to avoid all the difficulties, it could show them various ways to increase the achievements.

The best expert is You
Despite the author has great experience in this field, she doesn’t allow herself be instructive. To say, she is not an artist, she is rather his assistant who fills color-boxes and prepares brushes.  Why does one of the world leading experts on children’s products and activities choose such approach? Because it is you who decides which toys worth buying and what activities worth being done. From her own side, Dr. Toy just fills parents’ backgrounds to simplify for them making conscious and targeted decisions.

That’s why she offers parents to create their own playbook, “a notebook with ideas that apply to your child and tips from your reading and research.” That’s why she defines three different categories of games – active, creative, educational – and marks with its index the most of toys and games in “Toy suggestions” boxes: what to choose finally, it’s on the parents’ own.  That’s way at the end of the book she proposes 5-pages list of “Play ideas,” where everything from archery and pottery to computer games for kids to scrapbooks making is counted.

How to use?
Dr. Toy’s playguide is well-structured and easy to use, even if you have to use it as a “FAQ-book.” The key-points are recorded in special tip-boxes. Here’re topics of some of them: it looks informative and worth reading, and it does.

Tips on selecting toys and other children’s products
Safety tips on toys
Tips on child observation
Scrap materials for making toys at home or school
Sources for free and unexpensive materials
Tips for selecting software

Frankly speaking, we think some of these tip-boxes may be stick down on the fridge or in the parents’ datebook.

Our resume: helpful for parents as well as for kids’ educators!

Reviewed by:
Marta Sterman, Editor, Kids’ Internet Digest,
DrivingKids.com – Edutainment MMO Game for Kids