Electronic Greeting Cards
Children love to send and receive emails. It is now possible to send and receive electronic greeting cards ('e-cards' or 'e-Greetings') for Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and other special occasions.
E-cards are available for free on the Internet. Most electronic greeting card sites give you a wide selection of choices and let you personalize your card. Unlike with traditional printed cards, you don’t schlep to a card store to make your selection, you don’t fork out any moola, delivery is immediate, there’s no postage required, and you are not using paper. But the best thing about these cards is that they animate and play music, which makes them WAY COOL to kids!
Most electronic greeting card sites are similar in set up. Upon entering the site, you select a category of card that interests you. The next screen shows you a series of possible card choices. By clicking on one that appeals to you, the card will enlarge and may animate. If there is music with the card, it will start to play. Usually there is a place to click to see the second (inside) page of the card. The site then offers you the ability to personalize the card you have selected—you may be able to change the proposed message or add to it. At some sites, you can even add voice, video, or photos to the cards.
Once you have personalized the e-card, you enter the email address for delivery. Your recipient will get an email telling them to go to a specific web address to view the card you have made. You may be able to send the same card to multiple recipients. The delivery can be immediate or you can choose to have it delivered on a specific day.
Most electronic greeting card sites do suffer typical Internet pitfalls like having lots of advertising. Many make their money by enticing people to buy extra stuff (like gift certificates) to add to their free card. So with children, be careful to help them to navigate through this commercialism and to land in areas that are fun and appropriate for them. Here are some suggested sites:
This electronic greeting card site is the favorite among our kid-testers because it is easy to use and has a huge selection. It offers e-cards for all occasions and for some occasions you didn’t even know about (check out the card for “Pi Day” under the “Wacky Holiday Section”). These occasions are sorted into over 65 categories. Kids should start in the “Kids” or “Teens” section.
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Blue Mountain offers a special a 'Card Maker' where children can create their own e-cards from scratch instead of selecting a pre-made idea. With the “Card Maker”, children choose from a series of backgrounds, then select an animation, music, and a message. They can even choose to make the recipient’s cursor create a “trail” while viewing the card. For example, children can select a series of fluttering birds or a group of sports balls to appear behind the cursor whenever it is moved.
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Blue Mountain also offers Kid Activity Cards (such as cards that show how to make a paper airplane or a paper fortuneteller) and cards that are games. Its cards can be sent in nine different foreign languages, and some can even include personal voice, video, or photos.
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This e-card site offers free online greeting cards but also sells traditional paper cards. Online card choices are broken into categories and there are specific “kid” and “teen” sections.
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American Greetings offers some unique collections including Garfield, The Three Stooges, and a collection where you can add your own photos to the animated cards.
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This electronic greeting card site is smaller than Blue Mountain or American Greetings but has some interesting e-cards. These cards let you choose your animation graphic and then select your choice of accompanying music. Their collection of virtual fireworks cards is particularly fun.
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Electronic greeting cards are a good way to encourage children to remember and communicate with their loving relatives and good friends.
All software is judged on a five star scale by looking at the following five factors:
educational, fun, ease of use, value, technical.
Jinny Gudmundsen is the Editor of Computing With Kids magazine. If you have
questions or comments, please write to: .
© 2009 Computing With Kids
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