Review and giveaway (giveaway closed): Zoodles!

Congrats to my winners: Sarah Osborne; heavenlysavings; momtoem, ShawnaMichelle, moushka

Ethan and I recently had the chance to test out a fun computer program for kids- Zoodles! I found out about this program through my involvement at the Product Review Place and am glad that I did. Zoodles is an online service that makes playing on the computer safe for kids.  It's really easy to use, you just go to the site, enter information about your kids including their ages and some other questions, and Zoodles will personalize a browser for them. 

The personalized browser is full-screen and specialized, so when your child is playing, they can't accidentally get into other computer programs or surf to sites that might be inappropriate for them.  On their personalized screen, they'll see a toybox filled boxes with pictures of different websites or kids' videos or online games or puzzles- all sorts of fun!  

Not only does Zoodles provide a safe, age-appropriate place for your child to play, but you as a parent can go to the website and further customize the site to focus on particular areas of learning for your child. You can also see a report of what the child has been playing and what topics they've been learning. You can also block certain games, websites or branded characters. 

Ethan is only 2 1/2 and, much as he would like to try, I think he's a little young to be pounding on the computer keyboard by himself. But I had a great time playing on his browser with him- playing the games, singing along with the songs and just having fun.  I also liked that this site introduced me to new kids shows and singers that I wasn't aware of- it opened a whole new world to us!  Ethan's super high energy, so sometimes getting him to sit still for book reading is a challenge, but he loves the computer, so this has been a great Mommy and Ethan thing for us. As he gets older, he'll be able to play on the computer more alone, and this site will be even better for us. 

The great news is that the nice people at Zoodles are letting me give away 3-month premium memberships to 5 of my lucky readers!

Mandatory entry (must be done for extra entries to count):

Visit Zoodles and let me know what you like best about this! 

Extra entries! (please leave a separate comment for each):
1. Become a  Zoodles Facebook fan.

2. Become a fan of Growing a Baby Reviews on Facebook!
3. Follow my blog on Google friends
4. Put my button up on your blog (I have new code posted for  my button- if you already have it up, I'd love it if you'd update to the new version!)
5. Enter giveaways at LuvnLife- one entry per giveaway entered there!

6. Subscribe to my blog via email (prior subscribers okay!)

Good luck! Giveaway will close at 9 PM PST on March 1, 2010.  I'll choose a winner with random.org and will email the winner who will have 48 hours to respond. One entry (mandatory plus extras) per person, please.

I was not compensated for this review, but was provided a 6-month premium membership to Zoodles so that I could test out the site for myself. All opinions posted here are mine and mine alone.