ClickandPlay.com was a website designed to encourage computer literacy in preschoolers.
A real advantage of ClickandPlay.com over the numerous other sites aimed at young children was that it operated as a "walled garden" of safe content.
The site was subscription-based offering unlimited entry to a cartoon world of characters including Thomas the Tank Engine, Fireman Sam, Bob the Builder, Pingu, Barney, Angelina Ballerina, Oswald the Octopus, and Paddington Bear. Each character had associated stories and games which stood up to replaying by very young children.
Content offered appeared to be age-specific as one first had to enter the child's name and date of birth before playing. Thanks to the simple and eye-catching page layouts, the interactive games taught children how to move back and forward to new pages, how to move the mouse around the screen and how to send emails. Playing with ClickandPlay, children could pick up trackpad skills on the laptop for the first time.
The star and sticker reward system for completing tasks and games was particularly popular. They could also collect character stamps which could be used to create pictures in the drawing section.
ClickandPlay allowed up to four users which was ideal for bigger families.
Trivia
- Thomas, along with Bob the Builder joined the site in December 2007.
- Children could send letters through the email application to their favourite characters and receive personalised emails in return.
- ClickandPlay.com's subscription had a cost of £4.95 per month or £42.95 for an annual subscription.
- The Thomas story in ClickandPlay was based on the ninth series episode Thomas' Milkshake Muddle.
- The art style for Thomas & Friends on the website is the same art style and game layout as the PC Game, Special Delivery.
Gallery
.png "Clickandplay.com logo (updated version).png (47 KB)"){kind=logo}
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