GREAT WEBSITES FOR KIDS
Appropriate for PreK aged youth.
Appropriate for Elementary aged youth.
Appropriate
for Middle School aged youth.
- Cyberteens.
http://www.cyberteens.com/ctmain.html
Mountain Lake publishes educational software as well as the CyberKids and
Cyberteens Web sites. Their goal is to create and promote youth community
worldwide and to give teens a voice and an interactive place to express
their creativity. Young people all over the world make Cyberteens a sharing,
caring space.
- The Diary Project.
http://www.diaryproject.com/
It is a way for young people around the world to share their personal
thoughts, feelings, and dreams with one another near and far . . . to ask
questions and find answers about growing up at the turn of the 21st century
via the Internet. Requires plugins.
- KidNews.
http://www.kidnews.com/
This is a free news and writing service for students and teachers around the
world. Anyone may use stories from the service for educational purposes, and
anyone may submit stories. It invites comments about the news gathering,
teaching, and computer-related issues in the Discussion sections for
students and teachers. A tremendous source of all kinds of magazines for
student-published work.
- Kidworld.
http://www.bconnex.net/~kidworld/CORN.html
A good example of kids’ writing on the internet, including particularly
good games and puzzles in an online format.
- Kid’s Space.
http://www.kids-space.org/
The site has rapidly developed into many sections, including creative
activities communication pages and sections for learning basic computer
skills. Good audio clips of music by kids are available in three options.
- Midlink Magazine.
http://longwood.cs.ucf.edu:80/~MidLink/
This electronic magazine was created by kids, for kids in the middle
grades—generally ages 10 to 15. Browse through the interactive space to
enjoy art and writing that will link middle school kids all over the world.
- New Moon.
http://www.newmoon.org/
This is a site for the magazine for girls writing of their dreams and
aspirations. Provides a set of guidelines for writers.
- Scriptito’s
Place.
Especially for young people ages 7–15. Vangar publishes things that people
your own age have written to spotlight young talent, and to show you that
you can do it too.
- Stories from the Web.
http://www.storiesfromtheweb.org/
Using story starters or going solo, children can write their own tales,
poems or book reviews and hang them in the on-line gallery. Or, read a story
from one of your favorite authors.
- Writing Den.
http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/
This is designed for students grades 6–12 who want to improve their
English reading, comprehension, and writing skills. Writing Den is divided
into three levels of difficulty: Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs. Includes
plugins.
- Young Writer
Online.
http://www.mystworld.com/youngwriter/index.html
Young Writer is a magazine that publishes creative writing from children
aged 6–16 from around the world. Fun, instructive, and designed to build a
writer’s confidence, Young Writer is a forum for young people’s
writing—fiction and non-fiction, prose and poetry.
- The Young
Writers Club.
http://www.cs.bilkent.edu.tr/~david/derya/ywc.html
This club aims to encourage children of all ages to enjoy writing as a
creative pastime by getting them to share their work and help each other
improve their writing abilities. The online magazine is called Global Wave.
- Young Writer’s
Clubhouse.
http://www.realkids.com/club.shtml
Created by Deborah Morris, the author of the Real Kids, Real Adventures
series. This site offers a great deal of sound information and opportunities
for young people through writing.
- Alex’s Scribbles:
Koala Trouble.
http://www.scribbles.com.au/max/jump.html
Drawings by a five-year-old. They include the adventures of Max and Alex.
- Kid’s Times.
http://www.kidstimes.org
This current events site is a companion to What’s In the News, a weekly
television program produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting, and offers
news stories written by kids for kids.
- The Kids’
Stomping Ground.
http://www.oink.demon.co.uk/fun/index.htm
A family in Leicester, England, has created a mishmash of jokes, crafts, and
other silliness.
- The World Wide
Art Gallery.
http://www.theartgallery.com.au/kidsart.html
See examples of art done by children from around the world, and connect to
links of art activities and information about art and art history.
- Zoom By Kids, For Kids.
http://pbskids.org/zoom/
This site offers games, activities, projects and more. Play along or submit
your own activities.
- A Game A Day.
http://www.agameaday.com
This site offers puzzles, games, and related materials designed to stimulate
learning, problem solving, and creative thinking.
- Big Nate.
http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/bignate/
Nate’s the star of Big Nate, the comic strip that follows this
self-described “future great artist” as he doodles his way through
Public School 38. But even a *ahem* genius like Nate can’t do it alone.
- Bonus.com.
http://www.bonus.com/
A Web site full of games of all types from sports like broomstick to smart
fun.
- The Boomerwolf.
http://www.boomerwolf.com/
Join the Boomerwolf Detective Agency and help solve a case. Designed for
children; amusing characters but sound science.
- Chateau Meddybemps.
http://www.meddybemps.com/index.html
All kinds of fun for families with younger kids.
- Checkers.
http://darkfish.com/checkers/Checkers.html
Will the black or the red pieces win this time? Simple directions provided.
Requires Java/32-bit browsers.
- Chess Is
Fun.
http://www.princeton.edu/~jedwards/cif/intro.html
Want to learn how to play chess? Want to learn how to play a bit better?
Here are some fairly easy “lessons.”
- Chess Kids.
http://www.chesskids.com
Learn to play chess with interactive lessons, quizzes, games, and puzzles.
- Children’s Software.
http://www.kidsdomain.com
This site is for information on computer books and software to help children
learn about computers, programming, and creating multimedia programs.
- Children’s Television
Workshop.
http://www.www.sesameworkshop.org
Your friends from Sesame Street! Check out the coloring pages in “Big
Bag.”
- Chinook.
http://web.cs.ualberta.ca/~chinook/
Computer generated Checkers. “A long-term objective of solving the game of
checkers, i.e. determining the game-theoretic value of checkers.” This is
a very tough game.
- Comic Zone.
http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/
Your very own newspaper comics section! Includes Dilbert, For Better or
Worse, Peanuts, Rose is Rose, and a lot more.
- Crazy Bone.
http://www.crazybone.com
Have fun with dozens of on-line games, jokes, magic tricks, recipes, tongue
twisters and coloring sheets.
- DangerMouse: The
Greatest Secret Agent in the World.
http://www.dangermouse.org/index2.html
Danger Mouse is a wacky and hilarious adventure about a Secret Agent Mouse,
and his trusty bumbling sidekick hamster assistant, Penfold. Penfold is
lovingly daft, usually needs to be saved from one situation or another, and
is the greatest straight man . . . er, hamster . . . ever known.
- Discovery School's
Puzzlemaker.
http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com
Puzzlemaker is a fun and easy puzzle generation tool for all ages that
allows users to create and print customized word search, crossword and math
puzzles using your own word lists.
- Enigma.
http://www.stephen.com/enigma/enigma.html
This is a sliding puzzle site based on a toy of years ago. It offers
interesting challenges and is totally addictive.
- Faces.
http://www.corynet.com/faces/
A game that lets you “mixup” the faces of celebrities. Silly stuff.
- Five Field
Kono.
http://www.darkfish.com/kono/FiveFieldKono.html
This beautifully designed strategy game is played on a Java board. It’s
worth the wait for the board to load up. Based on Chinese Checkers.
- Fun Brain.com.
http://www.funbrain.com
Educational games for children and teens, plus some parenting resources.
- Garfield Online.
http://www.garfield.com/
Heard the latest? Garfield’s the greatest! Check out what’s happenin’
with everyone’s favorite fat cat! Jim Davis’s official fat-cat site!
Needs plug-ins.
- GirlTech
Game Cafe.
http://www.girltech.com/Game_Cafe/GC_menu_frame.html
A Web page just for girls. You can create stories or work in science and
math games.
- Humongous Entertainment.
http://www.humongous.com
This site is mostly for younger children. Of course, the main purpose is to
sell their fine software products, but they have free coloring pages and
games to print out. Also, they held a coloring contest last Christmas, and
the winner got to see his artwork animated and put up on the Internet for
all to see!
- I SPY.
http://www.geocities.com/~spanoudi/spy/
A collection of image-searching games for parents to play with young (or not
so young) children. This is a simple game based on the traditional “I
Spy” game parents play with their children to fill time while waiting
somewhere. Heavily graphic site.
- Joan Irvine: The
Pop-up Lady.
http://www.makersgallery.com/joanirvine/
Joan Irvine is a Canadian author of children’s craft books. Three of the
books have instructions on how to make pop-up cards, a set of pop-up
instructions, and a contest. Includes links to other pop-up sites.
- Kids Hub.
http://kidshub.org
Geared to elementary and middle students as a fun learning center that
features free online interactive lessons, educational games, puzzles and
quizzes. Includes parent and teacher resources.
- Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
http://www.pbs.org/rogers/
Continues the soft approach of Mr. Rogers with all kinds of games and
experiences.
- Nickelodeon.
http://www.nick.com
Like to watch Nick? Here’s where to click!
- Official Disney Web Site.
http://www.disney.go.com
Movies, animation—everything Disney! Requires Macromedia Flash Player 6
plugin.
- Official Star Wars Web Site.
http://www.starwars.com/
For Star Wars fans everywhere! Needs plug-ins.
- OwlKids Online.
http://www.owlkids.com
This is a site based on the magazine for children in Canada. Nicely
constructed site. The age breaks are helpful.
- PBS for Kids.
http://www.pbskids.org
Games and activities connected to your favorite PBS programs, including
Arthur, Between the Lions and Sesame Street. Also provides information for
grownups on using the site.
- Pentalpha.
http://www.darkfish.com/pentalpha/Pentalpha.html
Solve this challenging puzzle on a very cool board and then let your friends
try solving it. More of a puzzle than a game, the rules are a bit arcane.
Requires Java/32-bit browsers.
- Play Kids Games.
http://www.playkidsgames.com
Check out math, alphabet and logic games designed for younger children and
their parents.
- Prongo.com.
http://www.www.prongo.com
Locate free online games, e-cards, quizzes, jokes, brainteasers, wallpaper,
screensavers, and more.
- Puzzle Choice.com.
http://www.puzzlechoice.com
Choose from crosswords, word searches, word play games, logic and number
puzzles and more.
- Snoopy.com
http://www.snoopy.com
Visit with a favorite character. Personality profiles of the characters and
Schulz’s thoughts on why they behave the way they do!
- Squigly's Playhouse.
http://www.squiglysplayhouse.com
Look here for games, crafts, jokes, brainteasers and more.
- Tiger
Aki.
http://www.asiabigtime.com/storybooks/aki_menu.html
Animated storybooks and games feature Tiger Aki. Games include mazes,
interactive puzzles, nap, coloring and more.
- Tiny Planets.
http://www.tinyplanets.com
Bing and Bong, aliens from the Tiny Planets, offer games related to
technology, nature, light and color.
- U.S. Chess Online!
http://www.uschess.org/
This is the Chess Federation site and does include beginning lessons in
chess. Given the importance of chess in learning theory, this is a must!
- World’s Largest Roadside Attractions.
http://www.wlra.us
Seeing these “largest” attractions, including the largest cow, catsup
bottle, and cuckoo clock, will make you smile.
-
Appropriate for PreK aged youth.
-
Appropriate for Elementary aged youth.
- Appropriate
for Middle School aged youth.
