This is a free, flash-based tool for kids that teaches them how to create an environmentally friendly home by allowing them to create their own abodo. It walks you through the steps of building a virtual green home. MyAbodo allows you to choose and customize various parts of the house while learning about the environmental impact of each choice.

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Nikki Phipps is a freelance writer of numerous articles and other publications, including the premiere issue of Perspectives Magazine. She also maintains a gardening site, GardenCrypt, in her spare time. Drawing inspiration from family and past experiences, Nikki believes everyone has something to say that can benefit others, which is why she turned to writing. “There’s no better tool for learning than that of personal experience.” Nikki resides in NC with her children.

Link to Product/website: http://myabodo.com/

Description of Product: “Myadobo is an interactive toy that lets you shape a house that suits you. Change your stuff and see how it shapes the climate. When you’re done, join an abodo neighbourhood, share your abodo with other people and get started with changing the world for real.”

Nikki’s Description of Product: This is a free, flash-based tool for kids that teaches them how to create an environmentally friendly home by allowing them to create their own abodo. It walks you through the steps of building a virtual green home. MyAbodo allows you to choose and customize various parts of the house while learning about the environmental impact of each choice. When you’re done, you can embed your abode on a blog or website, or even send it to others via email. Users can also view houses created by others. The Tools section seems to be aimed more towards adults with an Info Channel that contains relevant news items, Project Guides for making real-life changes to your home, and a Project Planner that helps you organize these changes.

Homeschool Uses: This learning tool is aimed towards children in grades 2-9, and could be used to supplement lessons relating to the environment in an effort to help them understand energy and waste. While creating their own abodo (house), they can click on items in and around the house to view options that can be made, along with meters for assessing the water, energy, and waste levels, which are created from their choices. There’s even A “did you know” fact box that displays relevant information. After they have made their abodo, kids can create a screenshot and paste it into a document. This could be used to discuss ideas for improving their homes to make them more environmentally friendly. Older kids could possibly use the site to compare the cost of traditional home-building materials with those that are considered greener. They could also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both types of homes.

Content and Safety: MyAbodo does not require any personal information, with exception to an email address for sending an abodo to friends, but does not share this information with anyone else. Parents should assist/monitor their kids while visiting the site, however, as some of its content (in the MyAbodo tools section) may be difficult for younger kids to understand.

Nikki’s Experience Using the Product: While playing around on the MyAbodo site, I learned some interesting things about making my home more energy efficient and tips for creating less waste. I even created my own abodo, which I’m proud to say rated high on the “How green is your abodo” meter. Each abodo includes statistics for the amount of water and energy used as well as the amount of waste created.

Summary: Overall, I felt the MyAbodo site was interesting. The home creation tool was fun and provided useful information for developing a better understanding of the impacts of our choices with regards to the environment. Kids could certainly benefit from this aspect. However, the rest of the site is best used as a resource for parents, as kids may find it difficult to comprehend. Yet, parents could find it useful for teaching environmental issues to their children when implemented in an age-appropriate manner.