This ‘Winnie the Pooh Bear’ website is of
the highest quality and offers real educational value for your children.
Recently I
read a very cool book called “The Tao of Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff written back in
the 1980’s. It shows how the popular children’s cartoon bear Winnie the Pooh
created by A.A. Milne in England in the 1920’s, though a Western concept,
actually embodies the ideology of the great Chinese (Eastern) philosophy Taoism
(pronounced Daoism). I remember enjoying Winnie the Pooh stories when I was a
kid so I thought I’d do the modern task of searching for his name on the
Internet. Of course there are hundreds of sites based on Pooh, but I decided to
go to the official site entitled:
http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/pooh/.
Uh oh, Disney! Of course Disney didn’t have the rights on Pooh Bear from the
start, but where there is a dollar to be made in the realm of children’s
entertainment…
I may sound
a little judgmental here, but I just get a weird feeling about Disney, like
they are planning to take over the world one day, possibly replacing the
current governor of California, movie ‘star’ Arnold Swartzenegger, with Donald
Duck or heaven help us, Goofy. Then again maybe that wouldn’t really change the
world much at all! I don’t want to get too political as this article is
basically going to be a positive review of the Pooh website, but when I think
about it, having Pooh Bear as president instead of George Bush could have some
really happy and peaceful repercussions around the globe.
Getting
past the idea that Pooh Bear has been ‘acquired’ by the Disney Corporation
there are some positives in all situations (Taoist belief of the balance of yin
and yang energies) and one of these is the fact that Disney have a lot of power
and money behind them. Therefore, the Pooh Bear website in question sets a very
high standard of how high the quality of websites can reach. The colored
graphics are astounding as well as the movement and interactivity of the site
in general. The main point of the site that I want to emphasize is the
enjoyable educational value that it holds for children approximately 3-6 years
of age, although after reading Hoff’s novel, parents and people like myself can
also get something out of the stories. Milne’s original tales were a social
commentary at the time of writing as well as promoting happiness and friendship
to the youngest generation. Hopefully in keeping in character, Disney doesn’t
lose too much of the original purpose and perspective, though in being
perpetually politically correct I’m sure all real controversy has disappeared
like honey from Pooh Bear’s jars.
Your kids
can enjoy Pooh based on-line video games, as well as downloading coloring-in pages,
mazes, and color wallpaper posters. You can also download a fun empty family
tree that the child can then research to fill in. As the site is highly
professional and under constant updates in construction, it says that soon
there will be Pooh alphabetical flash cards and even an ‘Enchanted call from
Pooh and Tigger", although this sounds like a pure money/honey making exercise.
Speaking of money please be careful as this site has lots of different products
and merchandise your kids are bound to obsess over. If I were you, just try and
choose the stories and videos that seem to have genuine educational value.
However, there are a few nice freebies that you can download from the
‘Characters’ link, such as a Tigger mask and a valentine card for Eeyore the donkey
as well as more fun activities. Whether you want to show your young children an
interesting and fun time on the computer/Internet, or you are planning to build
a children’s website of your own, this site is an excellent choice.
By Jesse S.
Somer
Jesse S.
Somer is and always will be a child at heart and believes that the ‘Way of
Pooh’, a life of friendship, love, and relaxedness, is one that humans of all
ages can learn from.
Jesse S.
Somer is a creative writer working at M6.Net: ‘The web-hosting company for
humans.’ M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and
freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information
and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.
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