KIDS STUFF
It's been a long time since I posted last. Just have too much going on, but something inspired me to get back to this blog. I realized after talking to some people that this blog IS a good idea, and that I really should get back to it.
So what's the topic for today? A hodgepodge of good stuff for kids. I am always scouring the net for good websites for my kids. There's a lot of garbage out there - Junk they really don't need to waste their time on. Not just bad content, but badly produced web sites with links that don't work or broken images, etc. But, I will focus on just the "good stuff."
I have girls and girls like "American Girl" stuff. For the most part, I like the concept. The American Girl folks help to bring brave, strong, girls with a strong sense of what is right and wrong to the attention of little girls who are being hit with counter images. (I am not even going to name names.) Anyway, I like the idea of American Girl. I even like the way they are introducing more and more ethnically diverse characters, as well teaching girls some good history lessons. I hope in the future that they will have even more cultures represented.
I also like BBC-CBBC. It's the BBC site for kids. My kids like playing the math games, especially. Our oldest was able to practice simple multiplication and lattice multiplication at their Skillwise site. There are other games, not so educational but fun.
Another website closer to home, is GameGoo, which seems geared towards Kindergarten through 2nd grade. My kids love it. They don't even realize that they are learning something. The site has not been updated in years, but it is still strong.
Occasionally, I need worksheets to help supplement the kids' homework. Once in a while, they just need to practice something to get it right. There are a number of websites that I use for this. First-School Preschool Activities and Crafts helps with handwriting, learning the alphabet, and has tons of coloring pages. SuperKids is a website that reviews educational software, but also has great worksheet generators for math, games like Hangman, Checkers, Find-a-Word generators, and telling time worksheets. Sometimes you get worksheets with a lot of the same problems on them, but mostly there is enough variety.
My kids are growing up and as they grow, so will my worries that they will come across precarious websites. For now, I can monitor their usage, and allow them to only go to sites that I have scoped out. Little kids, little issues - Big kids, bigger issues. Let's be careful out there.
So what's the topic for today? A hodgepodge of good stuff for kids. I am always scouring the net for good websites for my kids. There's a lot of garbage out there - Junk they really don't need to waste their time on. Not just bad content, but badly produced web sites with links that don't work or broken images, etc. But, I will focus on just the "good stuff."
I have girls and girls like "American Girl" stuff. For the most part, I like the concept. The American Girl folks help to bring brave, strong, girls with a strong sense of what is right and wrong to the attention of little girls who are being hit with counter images. (I am not even going to name names.) Anyway, I like the idea of American Girl. I even like the way they are introducing more and more ethnically diverse characters, as well teaching girls some good history lessons. I hope in the future that they will have even more cultures represented.
I also like BBC-CBBC. It's the BBC site for kids. My kids like playing the math games, especially. Our oldest was able to practice simple multiplication and lattice multiplication at their Skillwise site. There are other games, not so educational but fun.
Another website closer to home, is GameGoo, which seems geared towards Kindergarten through 2nd grade. My kids love it. They don't even realize that they are learning something. The site has not been updated in years, but it is still strong.
Occasionally, I need worksheets to help supplement the kids' homework. Once in a while, they just need to practice something to get it right. There are a number of websites that I use for this. First-School Preschool Activities and Crafts helps with handwriting, learning the alphabet, and has tons of coloring pages. SuperKids is a website that reviews educational software, but also has great worksheet generators for math, games like Hangman, Checkers, Find-a-Word generators, and telling time worksheets. Sometimes you get worksheets with a lot of the same problems on them, but mostly there is enough variety.
My kids are growing up and as they grow, so will my worries that they will come across precarious websites. For now, I can monitor their usage, and allow them to only go to sites that I have scoped out. Little kids, little issues - Big kids, bigger issues. Let's be careful out there.
