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Posted By: yannam Web sites for Young kids - 05/07/12 03:48 AM
I was browsing thru our library website and checking kid corner section.
It has so many web sites and has subject wise listing. The information overwhelmed me and brought me here right away.

My question is what are the common web sites your kids browse thru- please limit discussion to academics, not online games.

Please also mention your kids age, gender and grade, so that everybody gets benefit.

my DD6, 2nd grader, used to browse regularly webkinz, her school sponsored web site. Once in a while she browses google to get some topic for her school writing assignment. That is all. Now your turn..........
Posted By: Wyldkat Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/07/12 07:52 AM
Starfall.com was a favorite from the time both of them could reach the computer I think although they are getting a bit old for it now.

Nick Jr, Disney kids, Bubblebox (with adult monitoring!), Kongregate (also with adult monitoring!), yahoo.com for email (the older one) and a bunch of science sites that I send them too.

They are currently 5 and 7 and both have access to all those sites. The seven year old knows how to use google for searches too.
Posted By: ColinsMum Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/07/12 11:29 AM
Murderous Maths has been one of DS8's favourite sites for at least two years. And Wikipedia, and whatever else he googles up...
Posted By: ultramarina Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/07/12 12:15 PM
I'd love some guidance on this as well, especially for DS4, who is also pretty much beyond Starfall now. Neither of my kids enjoy sites that focus on the gaming/hand-eye coordination aspect.
Posted By: chris1234 Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/07/12 04:29 PM
pbskids.org seems good; I remember dd, when she was 4, really enjoying a game where a situation is read out loud (no reading needed) and she had to pick whether the 'conclusion' was "FACT" or "OPINION".
Fairly subtle idea for a child.
Posted By: MidwestMom Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/07/12 04:30 PM
DD11 (5th grade), DD9 (3rd grade) and I spend a lot of time on howstuffworks.com and google. They like to ask questions that I can't answer. smile

They also like coolmath.com. When they were younger, PBS kids was probably their favorite site.
Posted By: La Texican Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/07/12 05:58 PM
My pre-k uses Reading Eggs . Com.
It starts off with the simplest of phonics through reading  and now he's up to Reading Express which has him doing dictionary work with alphabetizing and parts of speech and deciding if short stories are poetry, non fiction, or fiction.  Sometimes I help him more.  Sometimes I help him less.  

My toddler likes the star fall vowels songs and the reading eggs nursery rhymes.  All she does is push the button and sing along. I have to move the mouse.  

Count by fives




Multiply by threes




Animal sounds song




Chinese phonics





Sesame Street




When you start watching YouTube save some like these to your favorites then many more similar come up whenever you click on one.  I can tell my kid only click on the favorites if I'm not right there or check out more if I'm right there.  That's on my phone.  

On the laptop I installed KidZui web browser by Firefox which he mainly uses to play PBS, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, etc., and watches cartoons like Wild Kratts.  KidZui is huge, but it's not like a net nanny that blocks websites by rating, but rather every site you can access has been whitelisted by hand by a teacher, parent, or staff so you at least know it's all kid stuff.  You get a little K icon on your desktop that works like your e icon.  He has somethings like the reading eggs in the folder on the e button.




Posted By: La Texican Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/07/12 07:46 PM
I forgot the big resource.  I got a free kindle app on my phone from amazon.com.  

I read to the kids while they run around in the yard.  I have a free full version copy of My Fathers Dragon and Alice in Wonderland and a few chapters of elementary school life science from here
http://eequalsmcq.com/classicsciinf...paign=LabNotes+May+2012&utm_medium=email

Speaking of subscriptions I get an emailed math problem every day from
Scroll to the bottom & sign up
http://bedtimemathproblem.org/

Can you get a kindle app on a laptop?
Posted By: Michelle6 Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/09/12 02:28 PM
Although I am not a fan of Mensa, their kids' site is really good. Has stuff for lots of different age groups, and my kids love it. I don't remember the URL, but google "Mensa for kids" and it's right at the top.
Posted By: Cricket2 Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/09/12 02:40 PM
Originally Posted by Michelle6
Although I am not a fan of Mensa, their kids' site is really good. Has stuff for lots of different age groups, and my kids love it. I don't remember the URL, but google "Mensa for kids" and it's right at the top.
Yep, that's pretty much the website address in and of itself! http://www.mensaforkids.org/

Out of curiosity, why do you say that you're not a fan of Mensa? I've enjoyed some of the members, but I do have to say that I am a bit bothered by some of the commercialism/push for all family members to join in order to access events that I am seeing in the GCC discussions as of late. The organizational policies that are aggravating me and the members are different entities in my mind, though, lol!

My girls are not really into online educational stuff anymore unless they are looking stuff up for school (they're 11 and 13). However a few sites that come to mind, depending on what you're looking for (videos vs. educational game type of sites like starfall) might be:

http://www.watchknowlearn.org/default.aspx

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/ (my kids loved this PBS show when they were younger and the website has videos, math games, etc.)

http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1399 (vocab, probably geared more toward late elementary for gifties than very young kids unless they are very adept readers, although I just now saw some really, really easy words come up, so maybe good for younger kids too)

http://www.edheads.org/# (under the "choose an activity" tab on the top right, you can select virtual surgeries to perform)
Posted By: KJP Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/09/12 02:47 PM
My son likes PBS kids. He likes the Mr. Rogers videos where it shows how factories make common items. I think there are videos on towels, paper and bread. He also really likes a game on there called Germinator. It has lead to some funny looks at the park
"Let's play chase! I'll be the germ, you be the macrophage and you two be the B-cell and the antibody it produces".
Posted By: Michelle6 Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/10/12 12:00 PM
Just personal preference, Cricket. I've known some really awesome people who were Mensa members. But it seems the whole purpose of the organization for most (not all) members is so that you can tell people about it and show off how smart you are. I don't believe in flaunting one's intelligence - I would much rather see an organization in which people use that intelligence to do some good for the world.
Posted By: La Texican Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/17/12 02:00 AM
This list of websites for young gifted kids showed up on Facebook today posted by Hoagies gifted and I thought of you.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/young_kids.htm
Posted By: yannam Re: Web sites for Young kids - 05/18/12 02:58 AM
Thanks La Texican
Posted By: Anonymous Re: Web sites for Young kids - 06/28/12 08:56 AM
My DD has been using this site beestar. It combines all the syllabus from all over and The programs are full of all real life world problems, challenging stuff to help kids thinking. Pretty cool.
Lisa
Posted By: Evemomma Re: Web sites for Young kids - 06/29/12 12:01 PM
Wow...thanks for forwarding the Hoagies list, La Texican. We've always used Starfall and PBSkids. My son has become quite the enivornmental disciple from the Ecoworld games on PBSkids. We've also used MathIsFun (dot com, dot org? Can't remember).
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