On the Web
Though they're young, my kids are already clamoring to use the computer. In our house, we allow a little bit of adult-supervised computer exploration every day, but it counts toward a set limit of "screen time" (including TV).
That said, there is a lot of cool stuff on the Web that can help kids of all ages explore the world. Periodically, I'll highlight some educational and experiential sites I think your families would enjoy.
If you have either a bug-lover or a bug-phobe of elementary school age that you'd like educate, you might want to check out PestWorld For Kids. It has facts on all sorts of "amazing pests" and some entertaining learning games.
What are your favorite sites for kids? Please give us an age range when you post.
Comments
I let my 5-year-old go to www.starfall.com occasionally. It's reading-based play and it's pretty mellow without a lot of fast-paced animation. It has various levels and I think it would be appropriate for pre-K to good readers. ... Looking forward to finding more sites here.
Posted by: Kris H. | February 24, 2008 9:40 PM
I love Starfall.com for my three and a half year old. The easiest level is letters and stuff and there are higher levels all aimed at reading for the older kids. The site says it is primarily aimed at first graders, but is also useful for preschoolers.
Thanks to both of you -- this is a lovely site I hadn't known about.
Posted by: Kayris | February 24, 2008 11:23 PM
My son is two, and he loves to watch the slideshow on the B&O Railroad Museum website. Of course he loves actual trips to the museum even more ... but he asks to watch that slideshow at least once a day. My husband and I were laughing that the museum's webmaster must have noticed a serious uptick in slideshow hits lately....
I'm guessing this is what Kate is talking about:
http://www.borail.org/animated-presentation.shtml
If not, let us know -- and thanks!
Posted by: kate | February 25, 2008 12:59 PM
My kids pretty much only watch PBS Sprout and they love the Sprout website. There are great activities there and they get excited to do them after they watch Nina and Star do them on the Good Night Show.
Here's a link: http://www.sproutonline.com/. Thanks!
Posted by: Christine | February 25, 2008 2:09 PM