Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Always Icecream - A $coop of Learning - A TOS Review






Always Icecream
http://www.alwaysicecream.com/

Geared to girls ages 7-12
$4.99 per month or $29.99 per year
Life-time membership $99.99

As a member of the TOS Crew, I recently received a free membership to the Always Icecream website to use and review.  This is a play and learn website which covers a variety of topics including: language arts, basic math, advanced math, science, geography, history, music, art, foreign languages, computer skills and, if desired, religious education.  At Always Icecream girls have access to fun drills in core academic subjects within a safe community experience.

This site has cute girly graphics--colorful, modern and fun.  Your daughter can even create her own mini version of herself.  There is a Mini World, a Pet World, a Friends section, a Learn and Play section, Videos and more.


Many Always Icecream members are homeschooled, and many of the ideas for the educational content originate from the experience of the founders as homeschool parents.  However, homeschooling is not a requirement to use Always Icecream.






Here’s a picture for the geography page for learning the United States



Here’s a picture from Learning to Type



A Bit of Information for Parents

Parents receive a complimentary account which lets them decide whether to allow "community features" which allow girls to communicate with other members.  Parents also get to customize the educational content presented to their girls.  Parents can even use this site to reward their girls with the site's in-game currency for accomplishing "real world tasks" like practicing piano, exercising, cleaning, etc.  Parents also receive weekly email reports on the learning progress of their daughters.

Parents, click for overview
Click for a Free Trial
Click to Buy Now
Visit Always Icecream on Facebook



Fun Rewards For Your Girls

Girls can earn rewards such as achievement medals, virtual pets and ice cream $coops (virtual currency) by completing learning materials and videos. These $coops are then used to play games or access other fun content. 
Here’s an example of a pet purchased with $coops at Pet World.  Awww, what a cute seal!  A variety of care items for the pet are also purchased with $coops.




If you decide to enable the “social” features of Always Icecream, girls can participate in fun competitions based on their achievements too! 





Online Safety - Got it Covered!

Always Icecream provides a friendly Learning Community set of social features - if you choose to allow them - which allow your daughter to interact with other members on Always Icecream. With this option, girls play "social" games, such as babysitting each other's pets or buying artwork from other members. The communication is moderated, and strict guidelines are enforced about what communication is permissible on the site.

***Content on Always Icecream is subject to moderation, contains no advertising and is blocked to search engines. To assure your child's online privacy the site is certified by Privo.



Great Features + Great Rewards = Happy Girls

• Learning Games and Rewards
• Educational Videos
• Shops and Games to Spend Rewards
• Weekly Progress Report to Parents
• Friends and Profiles
• Comments and Messages
• Entertaining Games and Videos as Rewards
• Social Games like Pet Sitting and Arts Shop
• Moderation prior to being visible to other members



Always Icecream guarantees your satisfaction or you get your money back!!! If you’re not fully satisfied with the service, you just send them an email with a brief description about what you didn’t like about your experience with the site.

So, What Did We Think About Always Icecream?  This has become my daughter's favorite place to go on the internet.  It's a place I'm comfortable letting her visit.  It's safe, fun, and she's learning in the process.  This site gets a thumbs-up from this mom.  This is definitely a tween site, but 14 is not too old for this one. 

The games, the mini-world and the many other features are engaging and fun.  The $coops rewards are fun incentives to keep accomplishing sections in various learning areas.  This one is what it says it is and more.

We haven't really found anything that didn't work for us.  We also haven't found anything objectionable within the site content, and we're pretty conservative most of the time.  We really like Always Icecream.







To see what other TOS Crew members thought click here

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Product Review Crew I received a free copy of the above-mentioned product to use in order to provide an honest review of the product. I have not and will not receive further compensation for this review. Opinions and comments are my own. I am not obligated to provide a positive review.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just added your web page to my bookmarks. I enjoy reading your posts. Thank you!

Jennifer said...

I agree exactly with what you like about the program.

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