I started surfing the Web with my daughter when she was almost 2. It’s amazing how quick they learn to point and click. She likes the purple one.
hitentertainment.com/barney/index2.asp
It can be very slow and the songs don’t have enough animation, but once the games load, they go quicker. They are mostly shockwave.
bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/teletubbies/
This is the best teletubbies site. Go to fun and games. you can download Who Spilled the Tubby Custard and then play it off-line.
nickjr.com/
Nick Jr. has a lot of cool stuff. We like Blues Clues. They have a neat 3D search game.
pbskids.org/
You can get to Caillou and Sesame Street.
I’ve tried Disney, but it requires log on and seems way too commercial.
I’m sure there’s lots more. If you have any. List them here and we’ll give them a try.
Thanks Richard. I am going to be exploring those sites with my 3year old. We have already discovered the teletubbies site which is great. In fact, the only other site we’ve been using is just next door at the Cbeebies homepage bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/
A good one is the Tweenies Vroom Vroom game.
You can listen to some samples but I had to actually save them to my harddrive then play them. In the US they also have classes for parents and kids (like Kindermusik).
I’d rather have my three-year-old be learning about anything except the Internet. Start them on books or crafts or something. Anything but the Mother of All Boob Tubes.
Good point Wolf, but I’ll bet most parents who give their tots supervised computer time probably do a lot of reading too. Lots of great craft ideas at the sites I mentioned.
Wolf:
We do about half an hour a day on computer. It’s a fun way to learn.
Why do you assume that we’re using the computer/Internet instead of reading books, drawing, making stuff (crafts) etc.?
Why would I want to do that? Is this a trick statement?
I didn’t assume that you don’t have your offspring read, or be exposed to books. I just think that forming the idea in their minds early that reading is more important than playing on the computer is crucial. I don’t think that kids should be barred from using the computer – it also can be a source for reading – but age 2 or 3 is too soon. The computer is too fun and too easy; kids will be less interested in reading hardcopies of anything if they get wired too early.
Anyway, kids that young need to develop real world skills, not virtual ones.
Here are some useful sites that your kids might like.
The musical sketch pad and rhythm drums are fun to play around with at this site: creatingmusic.com/
This site may be interesting for older kids. From the site: “Science Toys.
Make toys at home with common household materials, often in only a few minutes, that demonstrate fascinating scientific principles.” Haven’t really explored the site so I can’t really vouch for it. sci-toys.com/
This is a very creative interactive flash animation which teaches kids the alphabet. Recommended. orgdot.com/abc/
At the “switch zoo” kids can create their own beasts by swapping animal body parts around. switcheroozoo.com/zoo.htm
For reading, try the Rosetta project. Classic books like Pinocchio have been scanned page by page and added to the library. The language may be a little antiquated but they have a certain charm and the illustrations are often excellent. You can make your own books on the cheap by saving the scanned pages and printing them out. You may need to rotate and enlarge with an image editor so it’s time-consuming. Think of them as novelty books you can throw into the mix. childrensbooksonline.org/library.htm
A website I found that has been a big hit with everyone I showed it to. http://www.keyhole.com
It’s a satellite image program that can zoom into just about anywhere in the world. You need to register for a free trial, but it’s worth it!
It’s difficult to teach children that computers are NOT fun. My son is only 8 months old but as he sees me using the pc a lot, he has already realised that TYPING is the ultimate fun a person can have in his life.
And books are great fun too of course, but only if I let him chew them.
