Wednesday 2 May 2012

Our Favourite Websites for kids

I've been meaning to post up some of our favourite websites for a while. So here they are. We'd love you to add some of your own favourites in the 'comments' section if you have any you'd like to share.

http://www.poptropica.com/



An inventive megasite for kids with a wholesome and slightly educational bent, it features quests, games and puzzles set on 20 themed islands, including Shrink Ray Island, Wild West Island and ones based on the Wimpy Kid and Peanuts franchises. As many as 10 million kids explore Poptropica each month.








http://chrisnanoblock.tumblr.com/





Get reviews and instructions on how to build nanoblocks and take a look at the amazing models that Chris Tan has created. Yoda, Elmo, Jack Skellington, Bananman, Pac Man, Snoopy...










http://wonderopolis.org/





The daily articles at the National Center for Family Literacy's Wonderopolis are allegedly educational and supposedly aimed at kids. Don't let that fool you. They're just plain interesting, and make for addictive reading even for those of us who are, in theory, all grown up. For example, "How Does an Eraser Work?" doesn't just explain how erasers work — did you know they usually contain vegetable oil? — but also reveals how people removed pencil marks before Englishman Edward Naime invented the eraser in 1770. (They used rolled-up pieces of bread.)


http://freerice.com/





Answer a question and for every correct answer, free rice donate 10 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program. WARNING: As well as feeding people, this game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades and job performance







http://horrible-histories.co.uk/
Nasty nuggets and foul fact aplenty!




http://www.eduweb.com/pintura/





Become an art detective and learn about the great masters of the past.















http://www.khanacademy.org/





In 2004, Salman Khan started tutoring his cousin over the Internet. In 2006, he began uploading educational videos to YouTube. And in 2009, he quit his day job as a hedge-fund manager to concentrate on Khan Academy, a sort of one-man university. Today the site offers his free lessons in thousands of highly visual 10-minute chunks. Math and science dominate, and students are the primary audience, but Khan is adding additional topics and welcomes adult learners. It's a remarkable undertaking — and with funding from Google and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, it has a bright future.






http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/


Yes, there are the requisite games to keep kids interested, but the People and Places section, Animals, Activities, Stories, and other educational links are where the good stuff is. This is a learning site up there with the best of them, and you’re kids won’t even know they’re boosting their IQ while browsing it.







http://funology.com/






Jokes (“Why did the cow cross the road? To get to the udder side.”); boredom busters like arts and crafts projects; games; magic tricks; wacky facts; and more make up this universe of pure childish fun. While the site is largely entertainment-based, it does have some interesting educational stuff thrown in for good measure. Check out the Weird Science section to find fun experiments to do with your kids that teach them about physics, chemistry, biology, weather, and more. There are also several kid-friendly recipes to get them involved in the kitchen. You can even search Funology’s content by age and type of activity to find content tailored to your child’s interests.







http://brainden.com

If you love puzzles, optical illusions and riddles, this is a good site. You'll find the answer to the classic lateral thinking puzzle below:
A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment.
Can you explain why?




http://www.britannia.com/history/h6f.html





Find out about all the Kings and Queens of England.










http://www.haringkids.com/


Wonderful interactive site by Keith Haring - activities, stories, animations and an addictive online colouring book.








http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/
Games, stories and updates on cbeebies TV shows for pre-schoolers.



http://www.kids.net.au/

A search engine for kid-friendly sites.




http://ALLdownunder.com/


A website full of fun facts and jokes about Australia.



http://www.topmarks.co.uk/
A useful reference site for all those homework queries