Safe Websites for Bored Kids

According to Safe Kids, "The best way to assure that your children are having positive online experiences is to stay in touch with what they are doing. One way to do this is to spend time with your children while they’re online... Have your child show you what he or she does online, and become familiar with all the activities that are available."

Preschool Websites

Children begin their fascination with the home computer at a young age. It's not uncommon for preschoolers to want to try something a parent is doing. Many preschool characters have their own websites, like Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Bob the Builder.

Sites for Grade School

Elementary-aged children want sites they can operate themselves or with little help, so they can show their parents what they can do. Nestle Very Best Kids has activities that parents and kids can do together. The site includes a section of parenting articles, recipes to make, and activities. Disney.com offers family activities and a chance to hang out with the Disney princesses. Many website for this age promote reading. Scholastic publishes websites for popular children's books; including Harry Potter, Animorphs, and the Babysitters Club. Look for Reading Between the Lions, The Bearenstein Bears, Lemony Snickett, and the American Girl series.

Middle School Sites

• Neopets lets kids have and care for virtual pets. On Neopets kids play games to earn pet items. Parents can set the mail feature so that it restricts messages from the other users.
• Urban Rivals is an online trading card game that is free to play and easy to learn. The characters on the cards are colorful, and the battle graphics are no-contact. The site stresses the importance of fair play and sportsmanship. Parents should be aware that there is a mail system in the game and the ability to send messages to opponents after a match.
• Star Wars: The official Star Wars site contains information about the series for the whole family. It includes action games and activity pages like crossword puzzles and coloring pages.
• Comics: Kids can read the comics section of the Sunday paper online at Comics.com. Garfield and Peanuts have homepages with archived strips.
• Nickelodeon sponsors Nick.com where kids can play games with the entire cartoon lineup. Activities include treasure hunts, free downloads, movie previews, and games.

High School Websites

Teens are looking for information about Japanese crafts, culture, language, and their favorite Anime Characters.

• Origami: The Japanese art of paper folding is alive and well on the internet. Hundreds of sites are offering instructions for the craft.
• Amigurimi are Anime-style crotched stuffed animals. Teens can learn to make their own with knowledge of basic crochet or knitting and the free patterns available on the internet.
• Language Instruction: Sites like freejapaneselessons.com, and learn-japanese.info are offering free online Japanese lessons. Teens use the information to translate Manga and Video Games.
• Gaia Online is an online Anime community. Users can create avatars; then earn gold by playing games, and posting or voting in the forums. Gaians can use their gold to buy clothing and items for their avatars and homes. The site has a strict policy of PG13 language that users must adhere to. Teens should be monitored in the chat based areas.

The best way to know what children are doing on the internet is to play with them. Parents and their children shouidn't have trouble finding websites that are safe and fun from the many choices available to each interest and ability level.

Using the Computer

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