Welcome to kidthing 2.0!
Play, Read, Learn, Create, Mix, Personalize, Share and Chat all in ONE PLACE - safely!
Enjoy a wide variety of digital books, interactive games, videos and other products from leading publishers and creators in a safe, secure, downloadable media player, away from ads and web browsers.

MIX IT! - Create play mixes of products and personal images.

SHARE IT! - Invite friends and share products with a single click.

CHAT ABOUT IT! - Send messages to friends and family in a protected network

PARENTS and TEACHERS ARE IN CONTROL with kidthing's permission settings that let you choose which features your child has access to and the level of activity notifications you want to receive.

The kidthing player is always free to download and comes with a few free things to get you started. Pick exactly which products you want at the kidthing store. There's everything from interactive games, rich digital books, videos and more from favorite companies and brands. Products at the kidthing store cost between $ .99 and $ 7.99.

The kidthing player is currently available for the PC (Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7). It will work on a Mac only with Parallels or “BootCamp” and Windows XP running - although we don't officially support this yet. You DO need to be connected to the Internet to register your kidthing player, or to visit the kidthing store to purchase products.

We are working hard to make the Mac version of the kidthing player available as soon as possible. We are keenly aware that many school districts are going “Mac-only.” If you would like us to notify you when then Mac version is ready, please drop us a line at feedback@kidthing.com or use the “Contact Us” form.

To uninstall kidthing, click START->All Programs->kidthing->uninstall kidthing. (The “START” button is the button in the very lower left of the main Windows display. On XP it will actually have the word “start” on it. In Vista it will simply have the windows logo.)

The version number of kidthing is displayed on your computer desktop beneath the ladybug icon that you use to launch the kidthing player.

The suggested age ranges on our products typically start at 3. But there is plenty of content that will be enjoyed by kids of all ages. Browse the kidthing store, and pick what is just right for your family.

kidthing continues to evolve, and each new version of the player adds either new features or increased stability. Upgrading your player is the best way to stay at the forefront of what kidthing is offering, and also to maintain the best possible user experience. Note that when you upgrade to a new version of the kidthing player, you must SIGN IN with the same email address and password you used previously in order for your accounts and products to migrate to your new kidthing.

Yes. But we HIGHLY recommend “migrating” or “merging” your new kidthing player installation with your current one. All of your previously downloaded products will be moved into the new player. You can always go back to old version if you retain the setup file.

Note that if you download the new kidthing player, but choose not to migrate, you can still have access to your previous purchases through Purchase History only if you SIGN IN using your previous email address and password.

No, you can use the “Guest account”. With no personal accounts created, the default state of kidthing account is called the “Guest account.” You may browse the store and preview items with only the Guest account, but you cannot make purchases. Also, there are a couple of demos and a full Mathketball product automatically included in your new player, and the Guest account can play those.

But to invite friends, share with a friend and purchase products, you must set up an account. Your account is how the kidthing servers keep track of everything you've downloaded so that we can serve it up to you wherever you may be. With a kidthing account, you can install the kidthing player on any computer in the world and sign in to have access to everything you've ever downloaded.

To set up an account, simply click the big “SIGN IN!” button you'll see when you first launch kidthing player. Then follow the steps and soon you'll have a personal kidthing account. The first account you create will be called the “Parent” account, and it is the master account for that kidthing. A Parent account has control over each additional account you create.

Each additional account you create on that same kidthing will be a “Child” account. The things a Child account can do are set by the Parent in Account Settings. The Parent account decides if a Child account will be able to invite friends, chat or share with friends. The Parent also decides if the Child can accept friend invitations that arrive. The Parent can also set to be notified when a Child sends or receives invites, messages or shares to friends.

Hover the mouse cursor over your avatar in the upper right of the kidthing player display. Four buttons will appear. Hovering over the buttons will produce a pop-up tooltip that will also describe the function of the button. The lower-left button is the “change your account settings” button. Click the mouse on the lower-left “change your accounts settings” button to go to the Account Settings page.

While logged on to the Parent account, you have control over all account settings. You can change account settings for the Parent account, and you can also change settings for the Child account(s). When logged on as Parent and in Account Settings, an avatar will be visible in the top “choose an account” row for each account, including the Parent and all Child accounts. Click the avatar of the account you wish to edit, then click the “edit account” button. To add your own personal image as an avatar, just drag and drop a personal image onto the avatar template 'drag photo here' and then select that image as the new avatar.

When selecting a Child account from the 'choose an account' option the Parent can change the Screen Name, email address and avatar of any Child account. Also, the Parent account can change the permissions of any Child account. The permissions detail what each Child account can and cannot do, such as add friends, share content or messages.

After any changes to any account, click the “done” button to save the changes, or click the “cancel” button to discard the changes.

When logged in as a Child Account, a child can change their screen name or avatar only if the Parent account has given them that permission. To do so, your child can hover over their Child avatar and click the “change account settings” button, then click the “edit child account” button and re-enter a new Screen Name. Above the words “child account” on the left, you will see the “avatar selection” row. Click on any avatar picture to choose a new image or add your own image. To add your own personal image as an avatar, just drag and drop a personal image onto the avatar template 'drag photo here' and then select that image as the new avatar.

Click the “done” button to save your settings, or click the “cancel” button if you want to discard any changes you just made.

Teachers everywhere are singing the praises of kidthing in the classroom. kidthing in the classroom provides an easy way to get classic and new children's literature and engaging activities onto computer screens and up onto the Prometheus Board or SmartBoard where all of your students will be able to view a single book at the same time.

You will notice that kidthing products are significantly less expensive than their hard-copy counterparts. Books that sell in hard-copy for $15 to $25 will cost only $2.99 to $8.99 in the kidthing store! And in digital format, the books will not degrade and become worn with use, so each time you use them they will be in their original condition.

Also, since 2008, the National Education Association (NEA) has partnered with kidthing. So throughout the year, kidthing releases special NEA titles for FREE only to teachers and librarians. Free learning materials for your classroom: it doesn't get much better than that!

Please check that your internet connection is successfully connected. If you are connected, please wait a couple of minutes and try again. Still having trouble? Contact us and a member of our tech support team will assist you. Technical Support: Email us at techsupport@kidthing.com or call toll free at 888-861-2555.

If you are a teacher, this issue is likely your school's firewall or proxy server. If you know that your school uses a proxy server, please contact us and a member of our tech support team will assist you, or you can have your IT professionals contact us. “Firewalls” and “proxy servers” are two tools used by your technicians to protect you from the madness of the World Wide Web, and we appreciate the sound reasoning behind that. We are happy to work with your technicians to provide a safe way for your school computers to access the kidthing servers.

If you know that your school uses a firewall, you can give the following information to your IT folks and they will be able to resolve the issue for you. If your school uses both a firewall and a proxy server, you'll still need to contact support in order to resolve the proxy issue. Ports: The kidthing player utilizes TCP/80 and TCP/443 for outbound connectivity to the kidthing servers. IP Address: kidthing's web servers' IP addresses are: 74.218.144.35 and 74.218.144.34

See the answer to this question in the “Accounts” section of this FAQ.

To download the kidthing player is FREE!

You are welcome to download the kidthing player and enjoy the free product and demos. It's also free to register and create accounts so that you can enjoy inviting friends, sharing and sending messages. Have fun importing and viewing any personal media on the kidthing player. You are also welcome browse the kidthing store.

In the kidthing store, purchases of products can only be completed with a credit card as payment.

If you allowed the “merge” from your previous kidthing player, all of your content will be visible on the new kidthing desktop as soon as you launch kidthing and sign in.

But if you did not merge your new kidthing player, downloaded kidthing on an additional computer or you re-installed your kidthing player, you can still access all of your content as long as you register the new kidthing player properly. You must first register your new kidthing player with the same email address and password as you used originally. (Note: if you did not register with the same email address and password and wish to start again, you will need to “uninstall” and reinstall the latest version of the kidthing player. See General, How do I uninstall my kidthing player?

Once you have registered with your previous address and password, kidthing 2.0 will provide you a “kidthingID” that can be used instead of the email address to register during future upgrades or the registration of a new kidthing player. The kidthingID is also used when inviting Friends.

Steps to retrieving past purchases:

• 1. Go to the kidthing store - After launching the kidthing player, click the "Shop" tab.
• 2. Click purchase history -- you will find the "purchase history" link at the very bottom left of the kidthing store, beneath the "Go" button, and then further down beneath the "games" and "videos" search buttons. Those words are a link. Click the mouse on those words. You will be taken to a list of everything that has been purchased using your account (based on the email address you used to register).
• 3. Click download all -- Once in the "Purchase History" section, you will see each set of purchases you made, listed by date of purchase. Click a row to see it expand and provide a list of all the purchases made on that receipt date. Once that receipt has been expanded, you will see the opportunity to "download all." Click on that and all of the purchases from that date once again download to your kidthing player. You will also notice the opportunity to use the "download again" button for a single purchase. If you made purchases on multiple occasions, you will need to repeat this process for each receipt. The "download all" feature only downloads all of the content purchased in that particular receipt. Once you've "downloaded all" from a particular purchase receipt, to return to the list of receipts, you can simply click the "Close" button the lower right. Or, you will see in the upper left "Home->Purchase History->Purchase Detail. Simply click the words "Purchase History" to return to the Purchase History.

You may watch the progress of downloads by clicking the ladybug in the upper right corner to display the Download Manager. Also, when you click the Play tab, any current downloads will be visible on the kidthing desktop in the account of the User performing the downloads. The cover of the product will show, with a “download circle” superimposed on it until the download is complete, at which point the download circle will disappear and your product is ready to play.

Please note that the download of certain items will take a while. Please leave your computer on and kidthing running as long as you see the "download in progress" announcement in the upper left side of the kidthing player, up in the black section. If your computer "goes to sleep" after a certain amount of inactivity, you should either disable that setting before you begin the kidthing downloads, or stay and watch and fiddle with the mouse every few minutes to keep your computer "awake" during the entire download. Of course you can also just minimize kidthing ("-" button in upper right) and continue using your computer.

Children can browse the kidthing store, however to purchase products from the store requires the Parents Password during checkout. If you have allowed your child access to your password or are available to provide it during checkout, then product may be purchased and downloaded.

Yes, they can see all products that you have downloaded from the kidthing store. Imported content and mixes are visible only to the creator's account. For example, if a mix is created with a Parent account, the mix will only be available to play from the Parent's kidthing desktop. A Parent account or Child account may share imported content or mixes if they wish for another family or friend to view.

Some products will take longer than others. Small products can take as little as a few seconds to download. Some, particularly videos, can take 45 minutes or more, depending on the size of the file. This is because the video is formatted to give you the best possible quality. To check the progress of downloads, you can click the ladybug in the upper right corner of the kidthing display to reveal the Download Manager.

Yes. Click the ladybug in the upper right corner to display the Download Manager. Also the kidthing desktop (click the “Play” tab) displays a “download progress circle” superimposed on the items that are currently downloading.

If you allowed the “merge” from your previous kidthing player, all of your content will be visible on the new kidthing desktop as soon as you launch kidthing and sign in.

But if you did not merge your new kidthing player, downloaded kidthing on an additional computer or you re-installed your kidthing player, you can still access all of your content as long as you register the new kidthing player properly. You must first register your new kidthing player with the same email address and password as you used originally. (Note: if you did not register with the same email address and password and wish to start again, you will need to “uninstall” and reinstall the latest version of the kidthing player. See General, How do I uninstall my kidthing player?

Find the “Purchase History” link in the lower left hand corner of the kidthing store. Your purchase history remembers what you've bought from kidthing. You can re-download your products at any time.

Yes. All of the purchases you made are available to you in “Purchase History” and all of your shared products are available to you in “Share History”. Your Purchase History and Share History stores information on what you've bought or shared from kidthing. You can re-download your products at any time by accessing your “Purchase History” and “Share History” link found in the kidthing store, at the very bottom left side of the Store, far beneath the big GO button. You may need to use the scroll-bar on the right side to scroll down far enough to see the words “purchase history” and “share history.”

Yes - if you download the setup file for a new kidthing player, be sure to register your existing Parent account email address and password when signing up. Once you are registered, click on the shop tab and look for the “Purchase History” and Share History” link found in the kidthing store, at the very bottom of the left side of the Store, far beneath the big GO button. You may need to use the scroll-bar on the right side to scroll down far enough to see the words “purchase history.” All of your downloads will be listed and you can then re-download the products desired.

Remember that when you install on a second computer, you will need to reattach your child accounts by hovering over the Parent avatar and clicking on the 'add child account' quad button. Enter your child's kidthing ID and password to reattach their information. Child account purchases and share products can be accessed in the same way as above.

kidthing player 2.0 no longer uses a “Purchased” folder. Instead, all of your content is on the ”kidthing desktop” which is visible when the Play Tab has been selected. If you are the Parent account, the kidthing desktop will display the covers of the individual downloads (including products, personal assets and mixes) associated with your account, as well as sections that show the downloads associated with your Child accounts.

Yes, hover the mouse cursor over any content (purchased product, free download, saved mix, shared product, shared mixes) until the “quad” buttons appear. The lower left “X” quad is “delete.” Clicking that button will remove the content from your kidthing desktop.

If you would like a product or mix to again display on the desktop after you have deleted it, you can always re-download it using the Purchase History or Share History feature.

It will take about thirty seconds for the download to begin. The time required for the download to complete will vary depending on the size of the content being downloaded and on your connection speed.

There are two ways to watch a download as it is happening. One way is to click the Play tab. Once a download has begun, the cover page of the product will become visible, obscured slightly by a “download circle” on top of it. As long as you can see the download circle, the product is downloading. When the circle is gone and you are just looking at the cover page of the product, your download is complete! To play the product, hover the mouse over the cover image until the quad buttons appear - the upper right quad is the “play” button. Clicking that button launches the product. Or, simply double click on the cover image.

Also, another way to watch the progress of downloads is to watch the Download Manager. To reveal the Download Manager, click the ladybug in the upper right corner of the kidthing.

Be aware that it takes some time to download product. Small products such as “Brain Packs” can take as little as a few seconds to download, while large products such as videos or “Dear Mr. President” can take thirty to sixty minutes!

If you do not see your download progressing either with a download circle on the desktop or in the Download Manager, go back to the kidthing store. Look to see if there is anything in your cart. If there is, it means that you did not complete your purchase transaction. If that is the case, go through checkout again, remembering to use the scroll bar on the right side of the display to scroll down on each screen you see... some of the “next” or “proceed to next step” buttons are in the lower right of the display. The final page after having purchased product from the store will include the option to “print this invoice for your records.”

If there is nothing in your cart and the content has not made it onto your kidthing desktop, you can re-download it in by using Purchase History. See “how do I access my old content?” above.

Your pre-loaded free product is already available on the kidthing desktop of each account. Currently, the pre-loaded product includes two demos and one full Mathketball product.

Please contact us for instructions to replace your copy of Horton Hears a Who! customerservice@kidthing.com.

Please contact customerservice@kidthing.com using your school email and we will send an email back to you with the NEA code.

Download and install a new kidthing player. The setup file for the current version is always available at our website, http://www.kidthing.com. After installing your new kidthing player, be sure to register your existing Parent Account email address and password when signing up. Once you are registered, click on the shop tab and look for the “Purchase History” and “Share History” link found in the kidthing store, at the very bottom of the left side of the Store, far beneath the big GO button. You may need to use the scroll-bar on the right side to scroll down far enough to see the words “purchase history.” All of your downloads will be listed and you can then re-download the products desired.

When registration is complete, kidthing 2.0 will create a “kidthing UserID” just for you! Make a note of it (write it down somewhere safe, or make sure you keep the email that will be sent to you with your kidthing UserID).

You can always find your kidthingID by hovering over your avatar and clicking on the lower left Account Settings quad button. Your information will be displayed on your Account page.

Yes, you can set yourself up as the Parent account. You may then create up to 25 Child accounts and create different permissions for each Child account. Products and mixes can be customized and shared to individual students depending on their skill level. Your Parent account allows you to see the messaging, sharing and mixing activities for each student.

Each student will need to install the kidthing player at home. Have the students bring to class the kidthingID of their child account. You can then use those kidthingID's to invite the students as a Friend. With any Friend, you can share content and send messages customized to that student's need. If you also want to message the parents, you will need to ask them for their Parent Account kidthingID.

A Guest account is a way to play all content that has already been purchased and added to that kidthing player. So, a Guest account is a great way to share kidthing with house guests, whether they be parents or children. You can let them log in with the Guest account and they'll be able to play away!

A Guest account cannot invite any Friends and therefore cannot Share with anybody. The Guest account is just a safe way for somebody else (visiting kids) to use your kidthing player without any changes being made to your Parent or Child accounts. Encourage your guests to download the kidthing player when they get home and become your kidthing friend!

The parent account will be the first account that is set up when you click the “add account” button in the kidthing player. Fill out the form and click “done.” You will have created the main, or “parent” account for your kidthing player.

Once you have set up a Parent account, you will be able to set up Child accounts using the “add child account” button. While logged in to your Parent account, hover the mouse cursor over your avatar located in the upper right of the main kidthing display. Then of the four buttons that appear, click the upper-right “add child account” button. Fill out the form completely. Your Child account does not require an email address but the other fields are necessary.

You can set permissions for the Child account now (during initial Child account setup) or you can do it later. Permissions for Child accounts are important as they configure what your Child will be able and not able to do in kidthing. YOU as the Parent have control over the features available in each Child account.

A Parent account can set yes or no permissions for the following:

My child has permission to:
• Update their account
• Invite Friends
• Send and receive chat messages with friends
• Send and receive friend shares

I'd like to receive notifications when my child:
• Invites a friend or receives a friend invitation.
• Sends or receives a friend share
• Sends or receives a message

To access the parental controls, launch kidthing and log on with your Parent account. Hover the mouse cursor over the your avatar and click the lower-left “change your account settings” button that will appear.

Once in Account Settings, you can click the avatar in the top row of any Child account, click 'edit account', then proceed through to change any permissions settings.

Up to 25, just right for a classroom. Need more child accounts? Please contact us at customerservice@kidthing.com

After launching kidthing, you will see each of your accounts represented by an avatar with a “login” button superimposed over it. Click the “login” button. A popup will appear that is waiting for you to enter your password. Instead of entering your password, click the words “I forgot my password.”

You will now receive a screen that asks you for the answer to the secret question you establish during the initial registration process for that account. If you remember the secret answer you provided during registration, enter the answer in the space provided, then click the “Yes, please!” button. You will immediately have the opportunity to create and set a new password!

If you never set a secret question because you merged your account and were not given the opportunity, or if you cannot remember the correct answer to the secret question, click the words “click here if you forgot your secret answer.” Then on the next popup that appears, you can click the “reset password” button. An email with instructions about resetting your password will then be sent to the email address you used to register kidthing. The temporary password you receive from kidthing will be case-sensitive. After you have logged in with your temporary password, feel free to go into your account settings area and reset to a password of your own choosing.

After launching kidthing, you will see all accounts represented by an avatar with a “login” button superimposed over it. Click the “login” button of the Child who has forgotten their password. A popup will appear that is waiting for you to enter your password. Instead of entering your password, click the words “I forgot my password.”

You will now receive a screen that asks you for the answer to the secret question you establish during the initial registration process for that account. If you remember the secret answer you provided during registration, enter the answer in the space provided, then click the “Yes, please!” button. You will immediately have the opportunity to create and set a new password!

If you merged your account and never got to set a secret question, or you cannot remember the correct answer to the secret question, click the words “click here if you forgot your secret answer.” Then on the next popup that appears, you can click the “reset password” button. An email with instruction about resetting your password will then be sent to the Parent Account email address you used to register kidthing. The temporary password you receive from kidthing will be case-sensitive. After you have logged in with your temporary password, feel free to go into your account settings area and reset to a password of your own choosing.

This is accomplished in the kidthing store.

Launch your kidthing player and click the “Shop” tab to enter the store. Click on any product and “add to cart.” Then click the little red cart that has appeared in the upper right. Then click the “checkout” button. Enter your Parent password when prompted and click the “sign in” button.

At the top you'll see the “Payment Information” section. Click the “edit” button to the right. You may then change any or all of the information for your credit card. When your information is correct, click the “Continue” button.

If you selected, for this procedure, a product you actually want to purchase, continue through billing.

If you selected a product you do not want to purchase (you simply wanted to change your credit card information and did not wish to make a purchase now), you may cancel the transaction. Click the “continue shopping” button, which will return you to the front of the kidthing store. Then again click the red cart above to the right, which will cause the items in the cart to be displayed. Simply click the “remove” button you'll see between the product title and the price. Your shopping cart is again empty. Your new credit card information has been saved and will be used the next time you wish to make a purchase.

If the kidthing player is already installed and registered, and you know your current password and would like to change it, there's a “change your password” button available. On the main “play” screen, hover your mouse cursor over the avatar (upper right) to reveal the four buttons (“quads”). Click the lower-left quad entitled “change your account settings.” Now in the account settings screen, click the “edit account information” button. On the next screen, click on the "change your password" button. Enter your old password in the appropriate field, then enter the new password you would like to have. Re-enter the password in the next field, click the “done” button, and your kidthing account will now have a new password.

Child account passwords can be reset. While logged in with the Parent account and on the main “play” screen, hover your mouse cursor over the avatar (upper right) to reveal the four buttons (“quads”). Click the lower-left quad entitled “change your account settings.” In the top “my accounts” row, click on the avatar of the Child account you wish to change. Now click the “edit child account” button. You will then have the opportunity to alter all settings for the Child account including the password.

A Parent account can change screen names for all accounts. A Child account can change his or her own screen name if the Parent has allowed that in “permissions.”

From the Parent account: While signed in as Parent, on the main “play” screen, hover your mouse cursor over the avatar (upper right) to reveal the four buttons (“quads”). Click the lower-left quad entitled “change your account settings.” To change the Parent screen name, click the “edit account information” button. The next screen will allow you to change information including screen name. Click the “done” button when finished.

To change a Child screen name: From the Parent account, first choose the avatar in the top row of the Child account you wish to alter. Once you are in your Child's account, click the “edit child account” button. The next screen will allow you to change information including your child's screen name. Click the “done” button when finished.

To change a Child's screen name from a Child account: Child accounts can only change screen name if the Parent account has set up permissions to allow this. While signed in as Child, on the main “play” screen, hover your mouse cursor over the avatar (upper right) to reveal the four buttons (“quads”). Click the lower-left quad entitled “change your account settings.” Now click the “edit child account” button. Your Child may now make a change to their screen name. Click the “done” button when finished.

“kidthingID” is special for each account. Every account will have a kidthingID. It is another way other than email address to identify an account. For Child accounts with no email address, it is the only way to identify a Child account.

You and your child can invite friends if you know either their kidthingID or the email address they used when registering with kidthing. For Child accounts without email addresses, the kidthingID is the only way to invite that Child to be your friend.

The kidthingID is displayed when an account is created. The kidthingID of an account, after the account has been created, is found in “account settings.”

To see the kidthingID for any account, while signed in to that account, hover your mouse cursor over the avatar (upper right) to reveal the four buttons (“quads”). Click the lower-left quad entitled “change your account settings.” The kidthingID is displayed on that screen. To see the kidthingID of your Child accounts while signed in as Parent, click the avatar of the Child account in the top row. The Child account's kidthingID is then displayed.

A Parent account can change email addresses for its account and its Child accounts. A Child account can change its own email address, or add one, if the Parent has allowed that in “permissions.”

From the Parent account: While signed in as Parent, on the main “play” screen, hover your mouse cursor over the avatar (upper right) to reveal the four buttons (“quads”). Click the lower-left quad entitled “change your account settings.” To change the Parent email address, click the “edit account information” button. The next screen will allow you to change information including email address. Click the “done” button when finished.

To change a Child email address from the Parent account: first choose the avatar in the top row of the Child account you wish to alter, then click the “edit child account” button. The next screen will allow you to change information including the email address. Click the “done” button when finished.

To change a Child email address from a Child account: Child accounts can only change or add an email address if the Parent account has set up permissions to allow this. While signed in as Child, on the main “play” screen, hover your mouse cursor over the avatar (upper right) to reveal the four buttons (“quads”). Click the lower-left quad entitled “change your account settings.” Click the “edit child account” button. The Child account will be able to change or add an email address. Click the “done” button when finished.

While signed in as any account, on the main “play” screen, hover your mouse cursor over the avatar (upper right) to reveal the four buttons (“quads”). Click the lower-right quad entitled “log off.” The next screen will display all accounts with “login” buttons. Click the “login” button for the account you wish to enter.

An avatar is the visual representation of you within kidthing. Your avatar will be displayed on the main Play page (the “kidthing desktop”) whenever you are signed in. So when signed in as “Parent” you will see the avatar you selected for the Parent account. When signed in as “Child” you will see the avatar you selected for the Child account.

Also, your Friends will see you as represented by your avatar in their top Friends row or in the Mail chat area.

You may use one of the colorful images we provide, or you can use a picture from your own hard drive.

No. The avatar is simply a way to personalize your kidthing experience. If you do not choose an avatar, your Friends will still see “you” in their Friends list but the avatar will be “blank,” with just the outline of a head instead of a picture.

Yes, although you will not actually be “sharing” an avatar, and instead you will simply both have the same avatar. Each account's avatar is set up individually.

Pre-made avatar pictures are available in Account Settings. When in Account Settings for a particular account, click the avatar picture you desire from the row of pre-made avatars.

Or you can use a picture from your own hard drive. Drag a picture from your hard drive and drop it onto your kidthing desktop. Once the picture is on your kidthing desktop, drag the picture and drop it onto the main avatar display in the upper right of your kidthing desktop. Your avatar will now be the picture you just dropped onto it.

You may choose from a set of fun avatar images we provide, or you can use a personal picture that is elsewhere on your hard drive as explained below.

To use one of the avatar images kidthing provides, hover the mouse cursor over the avatar in the upper right of the main kidthing display. Four buttons (“quads”) will appear. Click on the “change account settings” button which is the lower-left button. Then click the “edit account information” button you'll see on that screen. Now, on the row of avatar pictures, click on the one you wish to use. Then click the “done” button. Your avatar will now be the image you selected.

You can drag any image from anywhere on your own computer and drop it onto your kidthing desktop. Once the picture is on your kidthing desktop, click down and drag it over to the main avatar, then release the mouse button (“drop” it). The avatar will immediately change to whatever you dropped onto it. Or, you can add a new avatar picture while in Account Settings.

You will need a Windows Explorer window open that is showing the file you would like to use as your avatar picture. The Windows Explorer window needs to be visible at the same time that the kidthing desktop is visible since you will drag from the Windows Explorer window and then drop onto the kidthing desktop. The image will be added to your content. You can then, with only the kidthing desktop visible, drag the content from your main content area and drop it onto the avatar. You avatar will then show the image you dropped onto it.

If you are in Account Settings, click the “edit account information” button (Parent) or “edit child account” button (Child). The avatar row will be part of the next display. Drag a picture from your hard drive and drop it onto avatar selection with the words “drag photo here” in it. Click the “done” button.

While signed in as Parent: To use one of the avatar images kidthing provides, hover the mouse cursor over the avatar in the upper right of the main kidthing display. Four buttons (“quads”) will appear. Click on the “change account settings” button which is the lower-left button. Click the avatar in the top row that corresponds to the Child account you wish to edit. Then click the “edit child account” button. Now, on the row of avatar pictures, click on the one you wish to use. Then click the “done” button. The Child account avatar will now be the image you selected.

While signed in as Child, if Parent has set permissions to allow this: To use one of the avatar images kidthing provides, hover the mouse cursor over the avatar in the upper right of the main kidthing display. Four buttons (“quads”) will appear. Click on the “change account settings” button which is the lower-left button. Then click the “edit child account” button. Now, on the row of avatar pictures, click on the one you wish to use. Then click the “done” button. The Child account avatar will now be the image you selected.

Click on the large '+' sign in the upper left hand corner of the main kidthing display or hover the mouse cursor over the avatar in the upper right of the main kidthing display and click on the 'invite friends' quad button. Enter the email address of the person you wish to invite or their kidthing ID and a message. Then click 'send'! The other kidthing user will see a pending invitation to be your Friend. If they accept the invitation, you are now Friends and can begin messaging each other and sharing content.

Remember, each user is assigned a unique kidthing ID upon registration. Ask friends and family members for their kidthing ID and invite them to be your friend.

The easiest way to encourage your friends and family to invite you to be a kidthing friend is to give them the unique kidthing ID that you received upon registration. Parent and Child Accounts each have their own unique kidthing ID. You can find your unique kidthing ID in your account. Launch kidthing, sign in to your account, hover the mouse cursor over the avatar in the upper right of the main kidthing display. Four buttons (“quads”) will appear. Click on the “change account settings” button which is the lower-left button. Choose an account to see their kidthing ID.

There will be a new avatar in the 'my friends' lane on your kidthing desktop with a 'your invitation' message. Click on the avatar and accept or decline the invitation. There will also be an email notification delivered to the Parent Account email address on file that lets you know that a friend invitation is pending.

While hovering over the friend's avatar, four “quad” buttons will appear. The lower left “X” button is “delete this friend.” Click that button to remove the Friend from that account's list of Friends. You can always re-invite that person if you have their kidthingID.

Banning a Friend will delete the Friend from your Friends list. You will not receive any messages they send and can no longer share to them or receive shares from them.

While hovering over the friend's avatar, four “quad” buttons will appear. The lower right button is “ban this friend.” Click that button to ban the Friend.

A Friend that you have banned may be reinstated by inviting them again to be your friend.

A Parent cannot invite a Friend for the Child account. The Child account will initiate the invitation. However, the Parent retains control over the association and can dis-invite or ban the friend at any time.

No. In order to add somebody as a Friend, you must have that person's kidthingID. So only folks to whom you have given your child's kidthingID will be able to add your child as a Friend. There is no “general meeting place” where all users see each other like in other programs, and therefore no way for anybody to get your kidthingID unless you specifically give it to them. Your kidthing community is comprised only and exactly of the folks you want to be in there.

Also in Account Settings you can set kidthing so that you are emailed each time your child receives a Friend invitation.

You can share with any other kidthing user who is your Friend.

Drag the icon representing the product you wish to share and drop it onto your friend's icon. Add a message and click 'share stuff'. If your friend has permission to accept shares, the share will appear on their kidthing desktop and then they can choose whether or not to accept the shared product.

As often as you like!

If a product is labeled as 'unlimited free sharing' then once you have downloaded the specific product you can share it with as many users as your wish - at no further cost to you or your friend. Friends will receive the 'unlimited free sharing' product from you, it will automatically download and be ready to play

There will be a new icon on your kidthing desktop that represents the shared product. It will have a picture and name of the kidthing user who has sent the share. To accept the share, click on the shared product and then click “accept share.”

If they included a message with the Share, you will also have a message from the Friend awaiting you.

No. Sharing only occurs between kidthing Friends. In order to add somebody as a Friend, you must have that person's kidthingID. So only folks to whom you have given your child's kidthingID will be able to add your child as a Friend. There is no “general meeting place” where all users see each other like in other programs, and therefore no way for anybody to get your kidthingID unless you specifically give it to them. Your kidthing community is comprised only and exactly of the folks you want to be in there. You, the parent or teacher, create the community and remain in total control of it.

Also in Account Settings you can set kidthing so that you are emailed each time one of your Child accounts receives a Friend invitation.

With kidthing 2.0 there is a new feature called “Share History.” This is similar to “Purchase History” but instead of a history of your purchases, it is a history of the shares you have sent or received.

To get your Shares into your new kidthing player, click the “Shop” tab to go to the Store. You will find the "share history" link at the very bottom left of the kidthing store, beneath the "Go" button, and then further down beneath the "games" and "videos" search buttons. Click the mouse on 'share history'. You will be taken to a list of everything that has been shared using your account.

Yes, you can share a video. The larger the video, the longer the share will take to complete. The upload speed for your personal content being shared in this way will be determined by your Internet connection. The download speed for the recipient will be based on the speed of their connection to kidthing's servers.

You can send a message to any kidthing Friend.

In your top Friends row, hover the mouse cursor over a particular Friend's avatar. Of the four “quad” buttons that appear, click the upper-right button (it looks like a little envelope). A message popup window will appear. Move the mouse down to the empty text field and click inside. You can then add any text you would like to send. When you are finished with the message text, click the “send” button. The message will then be sent to your Friend.

The avatar of your Friend will have a little number on it, indicating the number of messages that Friend sent you that you have not yet read. To read the message(s), click the number, which is superimposed onto the mail/message quad button for that Friend avatar. Or click on the 'mail' tab to see the message. To clear the message indicator from the mail tab, click on the message to acknowledge that it has been read.

Click the “Mail” tab on the right side of kidthing. You will see a list of your Friends and the most recent message they sent you. To view earlier messages, click the row of that Friend's message (click the text of the most recent message) and a popup will appear. You can use the scrollbar on the popup to scroll up and down through the history of messages you have sent to and received from that Friend.

While signed in as Parent, click the “Mail” tab on the right side of kidthing. The Parent account can see all messages from all other kidthing accounts. To view the complete thread of messages, click the row of the friend and a popup will appear. Use the scroll bar to view all messages received from and sent to that friend.

No. Absolutely not. The personal information given in the credit card form which includes your name and address is kept on kidthing's servers only, and the data is encrypted for security. We never distribute any personal information about kidthing users. To anybody. Ever. kidthing's continued promise to our users is to provide a SAFE way for kids to experience digital material.

No. There is no directory. There is no place to search for your kidthing contact information (kidthingID or email address). In order for somebody to have your kidthingID, you must give it to them.

No. In order for somebody to message your child, that person must first have your child's kidthingID. That person must then send a Friend request to your child (which, if you have set up the permissions to do so, an email alert is sent to you), and your child must then accept the Friend request (again, triggering an email to you if you've set kidthing up that way).

bmp, dib, rle, os2, ico, cur, cmp, crw, jpg, jpeg, mrc, pdf, tiff, gif, j2k, jp2, png

We recommend that imported videos files are no larger than 10 MB.

When personal content is imported into the kidthing player, it is only stored on that player and only accessible to the account that added the image. If you share the content with friends or family, then they will be also have a copy of the personal asset and the content is now stored on the kidthing servers. Personal assets that have been shared and stored on the kidthing server can be downloaded to a second computer only if the second computer was registered with the same account and password as the first computer. Then you can click on the 'shop' tab and look for the 'share product' link at the bottom left of the store page. Click 'download again' to have the desired content available on your second computer.

kidthing gives you, the user, control over who sees what. You share content only to other kidthing users who you have specifically added as Friends. Our database encrypts information so that no one else will be able to see your personal Shares.

Drag content from your kidthing desktop into the Mix Lane. The Mix Lane is the space to the right of the words “my mix” on your kidthing desktop display, directly below the big plus (+) icon that allows you to “add friends.” The Mix Lane will expand when content is hovered over it and when you release the mouse button, the content will drop in the Mix Lane.

You can drag either full products from your desktop, or with certain products you can open their “Asset Lane” and just add individual assets of that product to the Mix Lane.

The “Asset Lane” is the row of assets that, (applies only with certain products) appears when you click the lower right quad button that is visible when you hover over the product on your kidthing desktop. With certain products, each asset in that product will then be revealed in an asset lane that pops up below to the right. You can use the scroll bar on the bottom to move back and forth through the assets. Click the mouse cursor down while over an asset, then, leaving the mouse button down, drag the asset up to the Mix Lane. When the asset is over the Mix Lane, release the mouse button to drop the asset into the mix lane. By using the same drag and drop technique within the mix lane itself, you can move individual assets inside the mix lane to put them in your desired order.

To save and name your mix, click the “save” button to the left of the Mix Lane. You will soon notice that a new “product” is on the kidthing desktop of that User. The cover of the product/mix you have created will have as its cover a small picture of the first asset in the mix.

There are two ways to share a mix..

Click down on the mix product you would like to share and drag it to a friend icon, then release the mouse (drop it). Add a message and click 'share stuff!' The friend will receive your mix on their kidthing desktop and will be able to click on the share to accept or decline the mix.

The other way is to click on your friend's avatar in the top Friends row. It will remain selected as evidenced by the line around it. Then hover over the mix that you would like to share with that friend. The four quad buttons will appear. Click the share (upper left) button. Add a message to a message and click the “share stuff” button. The friend will receive your mix on their kidthing desktop and will be able to click on the share to accept or decline the mix.

Yes! It is suggested that you limit imported videos to 10 MB each.

Parts of a mix may include content that you have not yet purchased in your own kidthing player. So when a friend shares a mix with you that contains purchased material from their list of purchases, but you do not yet own that content, that piece of content will display a placeholder “Oops your don't own…..” in the mix when you are looking at it on your end. You can click the “shop” tab and purchase it immediately if you wish. Or you can wait and simply click the “forward” or “next” player control button. The “next” button is the triangle button that is right-most of the three player controls that are visible below content that is playing.