Online worlds for kids take on many different forms. Among the older and more popular, you'll find Webkinz from Ganz. But how well will your child fit in with this world?

To begin, your child will need a Webkinz plush toy, which includes, like other retail toy worlds, a code on the tag that can be entered at Webkinz.com. Once entering the code, your child has access to the Webkinz world for a year before needing to renew.

The vast array of activities available for your child make webkinz.com one of the more engaging of the online worlds. Activities are divided into 4 sections: Information, Pets, Fun and Games, and Shopping, and all of these activities can be easily accessed via the "Things to Do" tab. (Yes, your child will need about a 1st grade reading level to be able to play alone.)

Information is a help section with a guide and lists of site news and new activities. The Pets section gives activities for your Webkinz pet in particular, including decorating the pet's room and interacting with the items, a veterinarian, Kinzville Academy, and Webkinz Stadium. The pet's room offers a wide variety of items, and unlike some virtual worlds, your pet can actually interact with the items, sitting in chairs, etc., and the room is not just a room, but potentially a series of rooms, a backyard, or whatever you want, a big advantage over other virtual worlds. Kinzville Academy is really a collection of games, but some of the games may frustrate players on an older computer, and the pet's movements were glitchy. On my 1 GHz iBook (1.25 MB/RAM), some of the games were unresponsive to the point of being unplayable. It claims 800 MHz or better and 256 MB/RAM, but I recommend at least a G5 processor and at least 1 GB/RAM to avoid these problems. Sadly, webkinz.com doesn't offer a demo mode to try it out and see whether your computer can handle it.

At Webkinz Stadium, Webkinz compete in different events like beauty pageants. While you can watch your pet compete, you don't actually control it--you don't actually even have to watch--you just sign up and pay the entry fee. Winners are determined based on scores at Webkinz Academy, so you'll want to take some classes there before competing at the stadium. Winning pays around 20,000 in Kinz Cash, but you're competing against up to 5,000 contestants, so you'll want to decide whether it's worth the 25 Kinz Cash entry fee.

Fun and Games includes a collection of activities that are sorted by type of task. The arcade features a collection of simple arcade games that can be played to earn Kinz Cash. The games may challenge the youngest players to frustration, but a parent saying, "Try a different game," will likely remedy the problem, as they offer enough variety for most kids to find their niche. Tournament Arena takes those same games and more and pits you against another player. Just playing against another person makes these a lot more fun than playing solo, and you can play against a friend or have another player chosen for you, and since you can't chat during the game, privacy is no issue. After the game, you can choose to add that opponent as a friend.

Quizzy's Question Corner offers quiz questions based on various school subjects. Players can choose their ages to get age-appropriate questions and a subject of choice. Ganz emphasizes that the most Kinz Cash can be earned here, encouraging kids to spend time in this educational area. Dicekinz offers a unique game for 1 or more players. Combining a collectible card battle-style system with a board to move around, this game is a bit slow-moving, but overall, it's a unique offering, and the instructions are more confusing than the game itself. Younger kids may need some help getting used to it, though.

At the Employment Office, you can find jobs (games) to do. Some of them require you to have completed certain tasks first, like collecting gems or accomplishing a certain score with Quizzy. I again ran into slowdown problems here, and if you fail at a job, you have to wait several hours before attempting another.

The Clubhouse is the place to go for interaction with other players. You can go into a party room to chat using the chat menu system similar to other kid-safe worlds, and each room type has one or more activities, like pool or bowling, that you can play with someone else in the room or alone.

The Charm Forest requires you to purchase a Webkinz Charm at a retail location to try, and the more charms you have, the more you can unlock in the forest.

The shopping area gives you a place to spend alll that Kinz Cash on items for your pet or room. It also includes a lot of clickable ads for actual Webkinz merchandise, so you'll need to discuss not only these ads, but the ever-present ads down the right side of the screen.

If your computer can handle the load, Webkinz offers one of the best kids' online worlds available and offers enough variety to appeal to about age 6 or 7 to preteens. The ads are heavier than some other online worlds, but that aside, your child will not run out of things to do in this safe online environment.