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Interesting and Educational Web Pages for Children?
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?"
It's slightly corporate but a great site. www.noggin.com is the site for the kids tv channel Noggin. It has some great educational games etc. My 2 year old LOVES to play 'Pigeon patterns' with Bert on in the "play with me seseme' section.
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/tes sellate/
http://www.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.
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
www.howstuffworks.com is pretty good, though it might be for the older of your cousins.
Volcanoworld
Orisinal.com. The coolest collection of flash games you will ever find. Just have mercy on his server :)
Boom Shanka
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.)
BadAstronomy.com
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
http://www.sfskids.org/templates/splash.asp is the san francisco symphony orchestra's kids site. It's got a cool little flash app that runs in the browser that lets kids compose their own music with a variety of different instruments. If nothing else it'll teach them a little about music and possibly get them interested in playing an instrument.
a classic
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. 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
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
If you want to teach them something about programming, I've been looking around for Logo I believe this site has some good tutorial movies on how to use the program.
There also always the Bill Nye, Beakmen's of the world too which may be good starting grounds.
http://www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/ - slightly older kids maybe 10+
m
http://www.abc.net.au/outthere/stuff/animal01.htm educational
from here http://www.abc.net.au/kidsabc kids
Sesame streethttp://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/
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/
From the black stumphttp://www.blackstump.com.au/kids.htm
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/
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
My 4 year old loves this site. She's always wanting to go to pbskids.org
'Pleasure is the Disease, Pain is the Cure' - Lilith
I usually find out some cool stuff too :)
A friend of mine runs prongo.com - it's pretty much a site with counting games and other sorts of "edutainment" - probably more skewed to the younger set (maybe 3-7), but worth a look.