In praise of Club Penguin ("theory of mind"/social skills)

[lingle]

just reporting in that Ds2 seems to have really learned a lot of "theory of mind" skills from being on Club Pengun all the time. He is 6.5.

For those who don't know, Club Penguin is a website that you join. You get to have pets called puffles. The puffles have very simple big faces with easy-to-read emotions. You have to "tend" your puffles. If you neglect them, then next time you log on they look really sad. Then you have to give them a bath,pizza,etc. It's all very visual - no talking at all I think. So great for kids who get confused in their auditory processing. It's like a really simplified version of a child-pet relationship done through cartoons that change in real time.

I didn't realise how much this meant to DS2 until he got some soft-toy puffles for Christmas. He is playing with them in a way that is imaginatively far more rich than anything I've seen before. If he can't find one, he spontaneously comes to tell us that he's worried it might be feeling scared, for instance. He has made a puffle-area in his bedroom and created a bunk-bed for them.

Of course it's not due to Club-Penguin that this stuff is kicking in - his brain must have been "ready" for it somehow. He's also started saying things like "a girl at school thinks my name has five letters in it but she's wrong..."
But if anyone else has achild who is starting to understand things like hide-and-seek and secrets and having mistaken beliefs,etc, you might fancy showing them club penguin.

Club Penguin and Puffle fans here, too! The only kind of pretend play DS will really engage in is communicating with us via the medium of Puffle (!), he makes up all the facial expressions and we're somehow supposed to know when he's saying he's hungry, tired, wants to go to the Puffle Wash etc

He lines up his Puffles in his bed every night and has named them all himself which was a huge achievement as previously he would struggle to name soft toys, although he does have some funny names for them (one is called 'Sour'!).

The only issue we sometimes have is when he plays online and other penguins walk away from him or refuse to play games with him; he takes it personally and thought other players didn't like him and at one point was stalking people around the boards so I had to have a gentle chat about that (he's 6).

Lovely to read that your DS is also enjoying Club Penguin too and that it's helped him progress

Just to add he's monitored on Club Penguin and we have the settings so that there's no actual 'chat' going on!

We have an infestation of puffles. From the predictable Frosty and Mr. Cuddles through Zam and Zoom to the off the wall International Friendly, we have one of each colour.

Ah, we are not alone then.

it somehow seems to strip down emotions and relationships and present them in an easy-to-understand way. and the fact that your puffles' mood depends on how you have recently behaved towards them is genius. sure beats trying to explain other people's moods!
IYSWIM.