Kids' Online Games
From LoveToKnow Kids
The Internet has a great number of kids' online games. Most of the games aimed at young children have an educational component; nonetheless, most provide fun, as well as positive reinforcers for successful play. Some of the best sites for kids' online games are associated with children’s television networks, such as Nick Jr. or Playhouse Disney, and feature popular characters from favorite programs. The Disney site also features characters from its popular animated movies. Sites designed for classroom use by teachers and by home schooling parents also provide games. The variety and quality of the games associated with television shows or animated features is often very high, especially when they are funded by TV and film production companies with large budgets to promote their products.
The sites that provide the best free game content are usually packed with advertising, too. The sites reviewed here were evaluated not only for the content of the games, but for the suitability of the advertising. Chat rooms running side-by-side with games were also a concern and these sites should not be used unless the child playing the game is under the direct supervision of an adult. Portal sites like Yahoo feature games that may appeal to children; however, the presence of chat rooms can be of concern. Yahoo does provide an alternate site for children, called Yahooligans, where children can safely play. Another portal, MSN, provides the KIDZ web site where children can safely link to games.
Nickelodeon and Nick, Jr.
Both the Nickeloden and Nick, Jr., web sites provide a number of games—many of which feature characters from their popular children’s series. Nickelodeon provides games appropriate for school-aged kids, while Nick, Jr. focuses on pre-schoolers.
The Nickelodeon games page is full of advertising, but ads are labeled in bold text with the word ADVERTISEMENT. Because of the preponderance of ads, it takes a bit of effort to locate all of the games on the site. You may save time by going directly to a listing of all of the games on the site; however, there are so many games, listed alphabetically on multiple pages, that it may be time consuming to locate the type of game you want. Nonetheless, this is a great site for a variety of content-appropriate games. Difficulty of game play is varied, and the quality of images and animation is very good.
Nick, Jr. also has a large number of ads on the site, but once you select the Playtime page, preschoolers can select pictures of their favorite TV heroes and heroines and play games associated with characters like Dora the Explorer, Blue of Blue’s Clues, Backyardigans, LazyTown’s superheroes, Max and Ruby, and many others. Game play is simple and teaches basic reasoning skills, as well as concepts like colors and counting. In addition, quality of the graphics and animation is excellent.
Disney
The Disney portal provides access to games in a couple of areas. The most notable is the Playhouse Disney home page with games featuring characters from their shows, such as Bear in the Big Blue House, JoJo's Circus, The Koala Brothers, and Stanley are featured. Game play offers preschoolers opportunities for problem solving and learning basic concepts such as colors, numbers, and letters.
The Family Fun site offers puzzle and strategy games that target older kids and adults.
Graphics and animation on the Disney site are excellent, as might be expected. Advertising consists mostly of self-promotion, although some partner ads are featured. The portal and individual home pages are crowded with information, making it difficult to locate the games on the site.
PBS Kids
PBS’ public origins and funding are apparent from the limited advertising on the site. Despite the fact that PBS gets support from various corporate entities, the advertising is subtle and unobtrusive. Advertising is notably absent from the games page. From that page you can select games associated with shows Caillou, Dragon Tales, Sesame Street, Barney, and others. The emphasis of the games is on education. Quality of graphics and animation are excellent on this site and games teach basic concepts.
Discovery Kids
The Discovery Kids site offers a nice array of games. This site is one of the few that features what are clearly “girl” games for school-aged girls. In addition, this site includes challenging puzzles and action games. Some of the kids' online game links take users to approved “partner” sites.
Other Sites with Kids' Online Games
There are a variety of other sites with games suitable for kids. These include:
- FisherPrice.com (ranked by age)
- Gamequarium.com (designed for educators but useful at home)
- CBeebies (from the British Broadcasting Company)
- Yahooligans (Yahoo's alternate site that includes kids' online games)
- MSN Kidz (with links to games at other kid safe sites)
- SparkTop (This site offers an assortment of informative, challenging games so kids can take a break and have fun.)
Summary
There are many sites where you can find kids' online games for all ages. Quality of the games may involve a trade off with the amount of advertising on a site. Parental supervision is important, both in choosing appropriate content and in selecting safe sites for game play.
Related Kids' Games Links
Comments
I'm just not big on all this technology for kids. Maybe I'm behind the times, but whatever happened to coloring books and jacks?
-- Contributed by:This page has been accessed 7,569 times. This page was last modified 19:17, 18 June 2007.
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