Kids Computer Games Recommendations

Printable activities for kids are very handy for car trips, to get the kids AWAY from the computer and for another fun activity alternative. There are many sites that do include printable activities and I have written about a few but never highlighted that fact before. I recently found a site that JUST has printable activities called Printables4kids.com.

Printables4kids has printable word scrambles, mazes, coloring pages and activities for different ages and for a lot of your kid’s favorite characters. This week they are pointing to Alvin and the Chipmunks which is VERY timely due to my daughter’s obsession with the movie. They also have Webkinz printables which I have not seen anywhere else. You have to have Adobe Acrobat installed to print any of the activities.

A few other sites I have reviewed that have excellent printable activity sections are:
Conceptis Puzzles —…

This is a strange time in kids online computer games. There are now social platforms much like myspace and facebook (for adults) for children. I address these first 2 broadly in my other post on Kids Computer Game Recommendations Ages 5-8.
So I will start with those in more detail: Club Penguin and Nicktropolis offer lots for free and Club Penguin offers a lot more if you sign up to be a full member for $6/month. Both will need a parent to enroll and check emails for enrollment information and to set settings. I recommend setting the settings as stringent as possible. Though Disney (owns Club Penguin who they just bought for $350 million) and Nickelodeon obviously are doing everything they can to keep kids safe on these platforms — it is still new and I sleep better at night knowing I can…

“Kids Computer Games — Free Online sites for your Preschooler to Learn” by Jennifer Mannion

Even if you never bought a PC/MAC game for your child you would never run out of content if you had an internet connection. My favorites are, in no order:

www.nickjr.com — All the nickelodeon characters; Dora, Max & Ruby, Diego, etc. will help you learn many skills. They also have a jukebox to play and listen to their favorite songs. My 4 year old daughter loves to put that on and DANCE! There are stories, art activities and more all for free.

www.noggin.com — Links to nickjr but has some individual content such as Oobi and our favorite, “Jack’s Big Music Show” with lots of music videos from Laurie Berkner and other wonderful musicians that children love.

http://kids.discovery.com/ — Has Paz the Penguin, Peep and other characters from Kids Discovery. Lots…