Eek! My kid love to play on the internet, but I'm getting tired of 'games' that are really advertisements for toys! Does anyone have suggestions of fun, educational websites? We've done Starfall and Crayola already, what else is there? I have a 9-year-old going into 4th grade, a 7-year-old going into 2nd, and a almost 5-year-old soon to start Kindergarten.
And I do know the dangers of the internet for kids and closely monitor what they are doing -- which is why I'm so sick of the sites they go to now!
pbskids.org is a great website
My soon to be 2nd grader likes to go to lego.com and hasbro.com
My son loves to play the games on pbskids.org. Check it out.
Here are some I use at school:
Monsterfacts.com, readwritethink.org has some fun activities, national geographic for kids, Zoom kids, and reading a-z.
www.funbrain.com
www.clubpenguin.com
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we love this site. We used the free part for a year and I got dd a subsription for christmas last year for the premier it is just more stuff...mostly she loves the songs and activities on it. whenever we are with cousins etc. they all want to do uptoten with her. we love boowah and koala and learning to count etc. with them. they are fun characters and I think it originates from France or Australia...haha what a difference right? but you can listen to everything in french...we don't get that far on learning but the website is lots of fun and I get to use it as a reward for dd too. some of the songs are also now part of our nighttime routine.
www.pbskids.org
www.sesameworkshop.com
www.noggin.com
I don't know exactly how educational you're looking for, but these are very fun, very stimulating and educational in a subtle way. Your kids will think they're just playing games, when in reality, they're learning. Sesameworkshop is like Sesame Street (in the new way - not the weird way it was when we were kids), noggin is a branch off of that. It has a lot more music, and if your kids watch tv, they'll find a lot of thier favorite characters there, as well as on pbskids. Good luck. I know how hard the computer battle can be.
Have you tried the NickJr page or playhousedisney.com, my six your old loves to play on the www.playhousedisney.com and there is a disney page for the older kids too. I think my step daughter likes this page www.brainblasters.com check them out and see what you think.
If you want dot to dot, coloring, mazes, etc. go to www.dover.com. You can sign up for a sample of thier products that they email you once a week. I print them up for my grandchildren. They love them!
try rainforestmaths online game and a favorite computer game we have is contraptions and the I spy games.
These are the ones my kids like.
Hi! I just wanted to tell you of a fun computer game for at least your 5 year old. It's called Jump Start World. (jumpstartworld.com) You can go to the site and see demos of the game. My almost 5 year old daughter loves it!! I don't know if boys would like it as much, but it involves a lot of learning games and fun little tasks that their character has to do. My daughter will be in Kindergarten in the fall and it totally captures her attention and she enjoys playing it. You can download the whole set of learning units for like 70 dollars, or just sample 2 units for around $17, which is what we did at first. Good luck!
Subscribe to mynoggin.com for just $5.95 month, no commercials, you can track progress for each kiddo and it comes with a free subscription to NickJr magazine. PBSkids.com is also another great website. Just noggin.com is good too, nickjr/playtime.com and montanakids.com.
I live in Montana and our state built a website for kids with fun facts, games, etc...google and see if your state has something too!
starfall.com is great!
Colonial Williamsburg has a great site, probably best for your 9 year old. www.history.org. Great fun and introduces kids to colonial life and history in a fun way. Good luck!
A couple of websites I have used are www.funbrain.com, coolmath4kids.com, and pbskids.org...on pbskids, Arthur has really good thinking games.
Hope this helps!
www.Starfall.com is a wonderful, educational site for kids that covers several grade levels. it was recommended by my daughter's Kindergarten teacher and we love it.
pbskids.com, sesamestreet.com we love starfall, haven't tried crayola and noggin.com is really good also