School of Dragons
By Carolyn Koh,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Train dragons, learn science in top-notch MMO for kids.
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School of Dragons
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What’s It About?
SCHOOL OF DRAGONS follows the How to Train Your Dragon and How to Train Your Dragon 2 movies and is set in the world of Berk. Kids create a Viking character and can take a fun personality test to match them with a type of dragon (or ignore the test and select their own creature). Players take part in mini-games to earn coins and food for their pets and quests to help out other members of the village. Eventually, dragons will be grown enough to be ridden, further expanding the action as kids learn to fly and play aerial games.
Is It Any Good?
Kids who are fans of the How to Train Your Dragon movies (and Cressida Cowell's books that they're based on) will love the chance to jump into the world of Berk, training the dragon that they'll eventually fly, race, and explore with. School of Dragons follows the movies closely, with all the key characters included in the game as quest givers. Graphics are superb for a browser-based game, and actions are simple; even flying is forgiving. Quests are varied to keep repetition low. Plus, educational aspects are subtly woven into the story, which shouldn't turn off educationally averse kids. (For example, the alchemist talks about using the scientific method to complete tasks.)
Kids observe and record the method and results in their in-game journals, which provides a sense of accomplishment instead of the usual one-click crafting recipes that are unlocked as a reward in many other games. There's a lot of reading, so younger kids may need sibling or parental help. Parents also have the ability to disable the game's multiplayer aspect so kids can't join clans or meet other players online. This does block some parts of the game, such as team-based dragon racing, but kids can still play against a computer-generated team. This is a small inconvenience for an engaging title that manages to educate at the same time.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about pets, including the responsibility of raising and training them, as shown in School of Dragons. Why do we train our pets? Do different animals need different types of food and care?
Talk about why games can be addictive and how much game time is appropriate. How long should kids be playing games each day?
What made you want to play this game: the style or subject of the game or the fact that it's based on the How to Train Your Dragon characters and story? Would you have been interested if that tie-in wasn't there?
Game Details
- Platforms: Facebook , Google+ , Mac , Windows , iPhone
- Subjects: Language & Reading : following directions, reading, reading comprehension, Science : animals, biology, plants
- Skills: Creativity : imagination, Self-Direction : achieving goals, work to achieve goals
- Pricing structure: Free (The game is free, but monthly subscriptions cost $9.99/month.)
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: JumpStart
- Release date: July 17, 2013
- Genre: Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG)
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Adventures , Book Characters , Friendship
- ESRB rating: E
- Last updated: October 25, 2021
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