Online Fun for Kids

Child and teen safety online is a hot topic, and with good reason. As PBS explored in its recent documentary, “Growing Up Online,” the Internet has infiltrated the lives of children young and older. These kids have many different reasons for surfing the Web. According to an article about “Growing Up Online” in the New York Times, the chief issues facing “online cybernauts” include online sexual predators, virtual realms, plagiarism, and the implications of online chat and e-mail. As the producer of the documentary notes, the online phenomenon is so new that there isn’t enough data or studies on how it’s affecting kids’ “brains or hearts.” That’s where the program comes in.

Visit the PBS Web site for the “Growing Up Online” page, where you can chat with the show’s producers, other visitors to the page, and read interesting features like the “What We Learned” section.

You may be wondering who’s taking a look at kids’ sites these days and monitoring the content, safety, and age-appropriate factors. Operations such as KidSites.com give a list of approved, straight-up gaming sites that are appropriate for all ages. Rather like findingDulcinea’s Web Guides, KidSites.com aims to meticulously review and vet sites before spotlighting them. It also has good lists for parents and teachers.

Nickelodeon has been online for 12 years, and attracts all sorts of visitors; parents, kids, and tweens. It’s colorful, busy, and offers a lot of spin-off games of the station’s shows. It’s also a good example of how some sites are attempting to draw in young users, providing sign-up options (“myNick”) and individual pages for popular TV shows like Zoey 101.

Nick Jr., a sister site of Nickelodeon, is for preschoolers and parents. It’s less complicated, but still provides a lot of fun games and colorful graphics.

Noggin is an offshoot of Nick Jr., and is even less cluttered, appealing to an even younger audience. In activities like the “Winter Wonderland” doodler, kids can learn the names of different art supplies while they doodle using only their mouse. There are also some games that encourage dancing and exercising, like “Lazy Town,” the current game of the month.

The CBBC is the Children’s BBC page, which has many games and creative activities, like on-screen doodling and painting. Some of the content is only accessible to UK residents, but what does work brings kids fresh content from another country.

Second Life and other online worlds are popular around the globe, but some parents might not feel comfortable letting their kids explore a predominately adult world (as they do in Second Life). For kids, there are safe alternatives such as Habbo Hotel. It’s now being marketed as a “hangout for teens” (the site motto), but younger children, with some monitoring from adults, can reasonably play at Habbo Hotel. Many of the features on the site are free, but kids will likely be interested in buying some of the premium items, like furniture, which helps them build their world in the hotel. Read the “Help” section of the Habbo site to learn more.

Stardoll was one of the dot-com hits for kids last year. The site is a fun, highly customizable way to create a colorful avatar of the player, a friend, or a favorite celebrity. Make your doll for free, and pay small amounts to buy clothes, accessories, and other goodies, and chat with other dolls.

Visit Disney Family, an entire site devoted to games, crafts, advice, and entertainment such as books and music. Their “Games” section includes online recommendations and home games for outdoors and indoors.