Hi Michael2,
What a fun question! Though, being American, but living in Canada, I
don't know whether to give you my "favorite" or my "favourite" sites.
My spell checker favors "favorite" so we'll go with that. :-)
My pet peeve with many children's websites –educational or not -- is
the amount of advertising and/or external links they usually include.
Young children (especially early readers) click on EVERYTHING! It's a
trick to keep them contained to the target site for any amount of
time. You look away for 20 seconds and they are off to some commercial
site you'd rather they not peruse.
Here, as in life, I've tried to keep my selections to sites that are
either – designed simply and cleanly, with kids in mind (eg: Animal
Land), or are designed as something a parent and child might work
through together (eg: BBC- Beasts).
Though I have many more sites in the kids' folders (we have an 8 yr
old boy and 10 yr old girl) these are the ones they come back to.
------------------------
#1
How Stuff Works
http://www.howstuffworks.com/
There is NOTHING you can't find on this website! Searching the site
is easy, the answers are written in simple terms, and the
illustrations are clear.
The only downside of the search function is that it gives you
web-results before the site results. This can be confusing for kids.
----------------
#2
BBC – Beasts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/beasts/
BBC – Dinosaurs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs/
These 2 sites are really popular at our house!
---------------
#3
Inventive Kids
http://www.inventivekids.com/
Has a good strong message that girls can do science too.
-----------------
#4
Animal Land
http://www.animaland.org/framesets/index_splash.htm
Our 8-year old would spend hours on this site if I let him.
------------------------
#5
Discovery School Puzzle Maker
http://www.puzzlemaker.com/
Although not technically for kids, our 10-yr old had a great deal of
fun with this site last year. Using whatever words she wanted, she
could generate "word find" puzzles for herself and her friends. For
her last day of grade 3, she made a complicated word find (including a
hidden message) using the names of everyone in her class and gave a
copy to everyone. It was a hit with kids and teachers.
----------------
#6
Fun Brain
http://www.funbrain.com/kidscenter.html
A busy site, especially if you have a non-reader or early reader, but
there is nowhere for the child to go wrong. With only a few
exceptions, no matter what they click, an educational game will come
up.
-----------------
#7
All Math
http://www.allmath.com/
Specifically the Flash Cards
http://www.allmath.com/flashcards.asp
Nice clean easy to use interface.
--------------------
#8
The Learning Planet – Kids Page
http://www.learningplanet.com/stu/kids0.asp
Requires Shockwave and free loggin – first name only
---------------------
#9
Ask Jeeves for Kids
http://www.ajkids.com/
For the simplest of all searches.
----------------------
#10
FirstGov for Kids
http://www.kids.gov/
More of a way to find resources than an interactive site (well, except
that annoying cursor thing they have going!) but this site provides
links to lots of good child-centered information on any topic you (or
your child) can think of, all provided courtesy of the US government.
-----------------
#11
The Official Robert Munsch website
http://www.robertmunsch.com/
Okay, maybe not exactly educational, but if your kids are into Robert
Munsch's books, they will love this site. Learn the story behind his
stories, (they are all based on real children!) and hear him actually
read his books out loud. About 30 of his books are available in mp3
format for free download.
-------------
And finally -- some kid-safe search engines
Google for Kids and Teens
http://directory.google.com/Top/Kids_and_Teens/
Kids click
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/
-------------------------
Thanks for a fun question!
-K~
search strategy: used my "kid sites" folders. |
,
0 Comments
)