Club Penguin, Toontown and Webkinz are online virtual worlds created for children, where kids can safely pretend they are a host of different cartoon or animal-like characters. They can play games, adopt pets and make friends. At Disney’s Club Penguin, a child can create a penguin, name it, dance, wave and send greeting cards or “talk” with other penguins. Before your child starts to play, be sure to read the Parent’s Guide. Club Penguin is for kids 6 to 14. They can play for free, but membership ($5.95 a month, $57.95 a year) lets them dress up their penguin and adopt more than one Puffle (a fuzzy round pet).  Toontown Online (screenshot pictured), also from Disney, is another online multiplayer role-playing game, designed for kids 7 and older. (What is Toontown is helpful for parents.) Children create a character (usually an animal), and explore Toontown. As they run, walk, swim and climb in this brightly colored animated world, they can compete in games and battle evil robot Cogs (which aren’t really scary). Kids can play for free, but a bigger world for members is $80 annually or $10 a month. At Webkinz, by Ganz, you begin by buying a Webkinz toy. The plush pets each come with their own code. By entering the code, players get access to the games and activities at Webkinz. Bbtoystore is one of the sites where you can buy the toys online. For example, a set of four stuffed toys (the Siamese cat, Lemon Lime gecko, Pink Googles the duck and Striped Snake) is $60.  A bullfrog is $12, and a single spotted leopard is $16. At the Webkinz e-store, you can buy accessories for your stuffed animal, like a super bed ($9). Log into Webkinz, enter the code and the pet “comes to life.” Then kids can feed, dress and play with it.