Interesting and Educational Web Pages for Children? 450
watashiwananashidesu asks: "I am a teenager with no siblings and a a good number of little cousins. Being something of a nerd, I'm incredibly popular with these cousins, especially the ones who are 8-11. Recently, when my first cousin (female, 8) was over, I began a collection of links that she might enjoy--sites that were appropriate and fun.
Now that the Cold/Flu season is over, I can expect more visits from my first, second, and third cousins, and I'm left with a dismally small collection of links (eight, to be specific) for them to peruse. Also, the few I have are unsatisfactory; they're mainly corporate sites like Barbie.com and Lego.com with a few non-corporate games mixed in. None of the sites have any educational value, least of all about the things that I really want to expose them to--science, math, literature, and computers. In fact, I especially need sites that will teach them about computers, so that they'll be able to better keep in touch with me, when we're all older. What are some good sites I can bookmark for my cousins that are: educational, appropriate for children aged 5-11, (mainly three boys and two girls), fun, not a security threat, non-corporate (though this last one is optional)
Also, how can I make my friends/protégé(e)s/cousins make the best of what few links I have or manage to find?"
Noggin (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Noggin (Score:4, Informative)
Home Star Runner! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Home Star Runner! (Score:2)
I clicked on the original link and got some evil thing with a cartoon kid buried to his neck in a cemetary having his brain pecked out by crows.
Why is it kids like watching this stuff but won't eat what you serve up for dinner? (unless disguised as a mcdonalds burger or meat pie (works in oz only)).
Re:Home Star Runner! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Noggin (Score:2)
Do spelling and drawing count as education? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd recommend some supervision since some of the "rooms" are meant for adults, but otherwise, my stepkids and their friends just love the site, and I like the idea that they're being taught that spelling matters.
--Kimota!
Science is How Stuff Works (Score:3, Informative)
I usually find out some cool stuff too :)
I personally think this thing is pretty cool... (Score:4, Informative)
Edumakation (Score:3, Insightful)
I apologize for my rambling.
Re:Edumakation (Score:3, Funny)
Isn't that enough? Minus the homework, I mean.
Re:I'm writing one! (Score:5, Funny)
"Kids Can't Add, 8 + 5 = D"
A new study released today shows that kids with glasses are suffering from a strange syndrome which affects the brain. The syndrome, named DDD (decimal defecit disorder), causes children to include the first 6 letters of the alphabet into mathematical answers, making the answer completely wrong. What else is disturbing is that even the answers that don't contain letters are still completely wrong. The most common answer for the problem 8 + 8 was 10. Researchers are looking into finding ways of early diagnosis and ways of treating this illness. Pharmacutical companies are already developing a new drug called 0xRitalin that will hopefully rid our youth of this terrifying handicap.
Sexual Education (Score:2)
a single page (Score:2)
Old link lives! (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.educationindex.com/ [educationindex.com]
It's a site of educational links, but has categories for age group and more. Unfortunately, all the kids I used to send there are young adults now and can find stuff themselves.
how stuff works (Score:5, Informative)
another one (Score:5, Interesting)
The Straight Dope [straightdope.com]
A great site that explains all sorts of stuff that is helpful to kids of all ages, and even goes into some more advanced topics.
Re:another one (Score:2)
no!! not straight dope! (Score:3, Informative)
I think it's much more approporiate to suggest something that informative and *safe*, like an educational site such as Britney Spears guide to Semiconductor Physics [britneyspears.ac].
Try this... (Score:2, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re:slashdot (Score:4, Funny)
Any teacher will tell your repetition is the key to retention.
On a different note: Did anyone else notice that this teenager seemed to use grammer and vocabulary skills more like a 40 year old with a BA in Literature? Siblings? Correct grammer? Correct spelling? And polite as well.
This has got to stop, you're making the rest of us look bad
Re:slashdot (Score:2)
Sorry to break it to you but... (Score:5, Funny)
Welcome to being a teenage nerd.
Fortunatly you have started reading slashdot at a young age so you will learn all sorts of incredibly cool and geeky stuff and probably make a decent living and have cool tech toys.
Unfortunatly being popular with cousins aged 8-11 will be a theme for your entire life.
Enjoy!
Re:Sorry to break it to you but... (Score:2, Funny)
how stuff works (Score:2, Informative)
Volcanos!!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Volcanoworld [und.edu]
Re:Volcanos!!!! (Score:2)
Make them smarter. (Score:2, Interesting)
http://www.treasure-troves.com/
Instead I had to read real books. Drat.
Orisinal.com (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Orisinal.com (Score:3, Funny)
Now you've sucessfully wasted another 3-20 hours of my life...
And please my girlfriend (she loves simple games, being somewhat simple herself (don't tell her i said that)).
Double-sided blade i guess.
(mainly three boys and two girls) (Score:2, Funny)
Here's one to stay away from (Score:2)
See if you can figure out who sponsers it!
(I gotta figure out how to post links as links someday)
Re:Here's one to stay away from (Score:2)
safeplaces.net (Score:4, Informative)
Safeplaces.net [safeplaces.net]is a beautifully done Flash animation site geared towards kids. Very good graphics and sound and lots of things to interact with on the pages. It isn't exactly educational(other than getting them comfortable with using a mouse and experimenting with an interface), but it is certainly entertaining and completely appropriate for small children.
(And now I pray they won't get /'ed for this.)
How about... (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, I work for them.
ABC Kids (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.abc.net.au/children
Try a public library's website. (Score:3, Insightful)
Easy one (Score:4, Informative)
BadAstronomy.com [badastronomy.com]
Re:Easy one (Score:2, Informative)
See Dr. Fraser's Bad Science [psu.edu] page, with links at the bottom.
However, I do think some of the material and writing is too high-level for 8-11 year old kids.
Check the sites in the CyberSurfari (Score:2)
A couple years ago I used to do an Internet treasure hunt called the "CyberSurfari [cybersurfari.org]." It was run by the SPA and sponsored by search engines like Lycos and Yahoo. During the hunt you would follow links through educational sites mostly targetted at children.
Looks like they are a few weeks away from starting the Spring treassure hunt. It might be something you want to do with your cousins.
A great site! (Score:2, Funny)
Try this (Score:3, Insightful)
the real sex ed! (Score:2)
www.sublimedirectory.com
www.ninenine.com
just don't click that goat something another link!!!!
For science, check out: (Score:2, Informative)
Well DUH!!!!! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Well DUH!!!!! (Score:2)
Now if only we could have some
=poke!= Oh! Huh? Whuzzat? Oh, sorry, I mu
Interesting AND educational? (Score:2)
Good Site....If You've Got Earplugs (Score:3, Informative)
neopets.com (Score:2, Informative)
Happy Tree Friends (Score:2, Funny)
Nice (Flash) cartoon site. Very appropriate for kids, especially the very young, impressionable ones.
Re:gross (Score:2)
just means you have to really check everything.
except kids at school are going to share this kind of stuff, cos they like gross things.
sites (Score:4, Informative)
Now that the obvious joke is out of me, here are some more serious ideas....
one poster mentioend why not getting them outside and do something physical. With that in mind, you can look here at yes mag [yesmag.bc.ca]. Yes Mag is a good science and engineering magazine aimed at children around your cousins age. The website has links to articles, sites and some good from hands on science/engineering activities.
Another site I used heavily this past summer at the computer/tech camp I worked at was Space Kids [spacekids.com]
Actually looking at the national organzation, actua, that ran the camp I've worked at just now, they also have a list of project and links you can do here: Actua Projects [actua.ca]
If you want to teach them something about programming, I've been looking around for Logo [softronix.com] I believe this site has some good tutorial movies on how to use the program.
There also always the Bill Nye [billnye.com], Beakmen's [lycos.com] of the world too which may be good starting grounds.
For the Science Tot... (Score:2)
http://quest.nasa.gov/
http://www.scitoys.com/ (Score:3, Interesting)
the abc kids programs and links to links kidsstuff (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.abc.net.au/outthere/stuff/animal01.htm [abc.net.au] educational
from here http://www.abc.net.au/kids [abc.net.au]abc kids
Sesame streethttp://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/ [sesameworkshop.org]
Play Schoolhttp://www.abc.net.au/children/play/home.ht
my favourite beginners site. Not specifically aimed at kids but steers well clear of nasty stuff.
Lots of computer links
http://www.blackstump.com.au/ [blackstump.com.au]
From the black stumphttp://www.blackstump.com.au/kids.htm [blackstump.com.au]
at this point you are never going to run out of links, theres links of links
zoo flash extra cool with sounds http://www.oac.schools.sa.edu.au/oes/zoo/ [sa.edu.au]
Education and REAL Science for Kids (Score:5, Interesting)
A good site that kids all over the world that has kids doing real science.
Good times, good times.
27 and still hooked on cartoonnetwork.com games (Score:2, Informative)
"Yes, officer, I confess. Hand me a piece of paper to write off my guilt. :)"
Twenty-seven, sir, twenty-seven and I'm still playing CartoonNetwork.com [cartoonnetwork.com] games. Even during business hours - that should be definitely added to my charges.
Say what?
Oh, no sir, a please pardon me for letting you down and not getting caught playing legally allowed games like: Grand Theft Auto, Quake 3, WarCraft and other. I find them... err... unrealistic.
Serious now - for kids under 9, just like me (divided by 3), I found the
NSA (Score:2)
Check it out http://www.nsa.gov/programs/kids/ [nsa.gov].
www.plastelina.net !!! (Score:2)
infact, forget the kids, I love this site. It has fun games (3 are free) that are cool logic puzzles. Also, the graphic design style is reminiscent of stereolab!
PBSKids... (Score:2)
http://www.squeakland.org (Score:2, Informative)
Educational links, regardless of age (Score:3, Interesting)
How Stuff Works [howstuffworks.com] - Helped with a project or two.
So You Wanna [soyouwanna.com] - Doesn't look like it's been updated recently, a pity too. Great step-guides to doing lots of things, from good interviews to skydiving (some vague, some specific)
Everything2 [everything2.com] - Geeks guide to everything and anything (including the kitchen sink [everything2.com])
hmm (Score:2)
What makes you think you'll still know computers better than them when you're all older?
M-x mail (Score:3, Funny)
(ok that last one is getting into indoctrination but you've already done the corporate damage, why not a little humor in the process... :-)
anyway, i'm always glad to see people teaching others through their good deeds. bravo! (basically the only lesson you need to teach is that you yourself know how to enjoy learning -- that is an example that sticks -- and what better way to learn than to debug --er-- program?)
Zeeks.com (Score:2, Interesting)
The Feed Your Brain section looked the most interesting for your proto-geeks.
Peace,
LinuxScribe
sodaconstructor (Score:3, Interesting)
BrainPOP (Score:2, Informative)
SciToys (Score:2, Interesting)
PBSKids (Score:2)
From the American Library Association (Score:3, Informative)
[ala.org]
Web Sites for Kids from the American Library Association.
Have fun.
DMOZ Kids (Score:2)
I know this is obvious (Score:2)
Heck, I probably spend as much time on their Frontline [pbs.org] as I do on
Have to mention these... (Score:2)
More seriously, you could try somethings like HowStuffWorks.com [howstuffworks.com] or project-oriented sites like PARTS [portlandrobotics.org] or FIRST [usfirst.org] (yes, I have a robotics bias) that could get them involved in activities beyond just websurfing.
I'll betcha places like Smithsonian, National Geo, NPR, PBS or other traditional educational media organizations are good places to look as well. I swear BBC has a kid's oriented news page. It's just too bad 26
sites for kids (Score:2)
passive entertainment? (Score:3, Insightful)
If the kids want to do something fun, there's got to be something more exciting than browsing the internet. But if computing is a necessity, why not teach them how to make something on their own? Creating your own flash video is a thousand times more exciting than watching someone else's. Teach them how to make their own fonts or icons or webpage. Something they can impress their friends with. It's more fun, more useful, and more educational than idly watching someone else's creativity.
When I was 8 years old, I remember running home from school every day to play on the computer. I doubt a day has gone by since then that I haven't used a PC. But the things that stick out the most are my own creations. Things like drawing a picture with an ANSI graphics editor in DOS. It wasn't much (hell, it was FAR from much), but that sense of accomplishment of creating my very own digital art is unforgetable.
It doesn't take much. Let them experiment with "Swish" to make some simple flash animations. Get them started with BASIC or Logo. Do anything you can to discourage New Television Generation 2.0, now better than ever.
Andrex, Warner Brothers, other links (Score:2)
Andrex Puppy: http://www.andrexpuppy.co.uk/flashsite/intro.html [andrexpuppy.co.uk] - a great site for younger kids. I've yet to find a kid who doesn't love it.
Loney Tunes Teach The Internet: http://www.warnerbros.com/ltti/homepage.html [warnerbros.com] - Just what it sounds like. Lots of educational games.
Lots of other great sites can be found via these links:
Teachers Online [teachers-online.co.uk]
Search-Info.Com [search-info.com]
Fun links (Score:2)
Battlechips? (Score:2)
Not very educational (although it does teach the more traditional Battleship process of elimination method), but it meets the remainder of your requirements and is quite fun.
Battlechips [wwwattmedia.co.uk]
Here's a thought (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Here's a thought (Score:3, Insightful)
My kids do this already. Thier "TV time" is limited, on avarage, to about 1 hour per week. And that is mostly when they are not feeling well and are low energy.
I do agree the point of your post: that most kids are not active enough and spend waaaaaay to much time inside doing passive activities. However the original question is valid. I would like to b
Another vote for sodaplay.com (Score:3, Interesting)
But it shows the beauty of math within nature, reduced down to a handful of lines and tension points.
Check out Sodaplay [sodaplay.com]
2 good kid sites (Score:2)
toomunchfun.com [toomunchfun.com]
Who doesn't love Homestar Runner? (Score:2)
Not exactly educational, but it will pipe them down for hours.
Caveat: the word "crap" is mentioned a lot, but that's the extent of the vulgarity.
Gentoo, Bible and Zen Buddhism (Score:2)
Get them to Gentoo [gentoo.org] - the best way to learn Linux (which is the best OS so far). Lots of very good documentation, very friendly forums full of volonteering teachers, nothing related to any corporation. And don't forget to go there yourself, otherwise in a month you won't understand your cousins :)
In the joke above there is a bit of a joke. Now seriously.
I think th
noggin! (Score:2)
www.noggin.com -- EXCELLENT TV network
www.pdskids.org
My 2 year old toddler loves... (Score:2, Informative)
It's a collection of sub sites organised around BBC children's programmes. Most of them have flash games, stories, activities for kids etc. The parent's section [bbc.co.uk] sets out what the site is all about from an educational persepctive, plus there's a parent's newsletter you can sign up for.
The Patent Office has a great kids site too (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.disney.com (Score:2)
Really Well-done Kids' Site About Japan (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm studying Japanese at college and I came across this at one point - it's an excellent educational site about Japan aimed towards kids - it has very basic tutorials in Japanese language and it has tons of information on Japan's culture, like an interactive shockwave thing to try ikebana (the art of flower arrangement) and kimonos. It also has information about some elementary schools in Japans and messages and drawings from the students. A really great site.
pbskids.org (Score:3, Informative)
Prongo.com (Score:4, Informative)
Carlos's Coloring Book (Score:5, Interesting)
Couple nice sites here (Score:3, Insightful)
Mod parent down. (Score:2)
"The sexing is to have for only adults. Also, with trampoline for frolicking in the poo."
OK, I giggled a bit, but when I remembered I was a parent myself, I stopped laughing.
btw s/org/gov/ gets you a 404.
Umm.. did you read the site, or just knee-jerk? (Score:2)
site. The parent post was obviously intended as
a joke. Children don't usually understand satire, so no, they aren't the intended audience.
You don't have to agree with the politics of the website, but it's hardly something harmfull to children, and it's not pornography.
could be worse (Score:2)
you'd have to be really cautious going near any website with whitehouse in it for more reasons than one.
Re:Sounds rather sick... (Score:2)
Re:An excellent question (Score:2)
Re:How about playing catch or something OUTSIDE? (Score:2)