Totally sweet websites that will make students say "wow"?

January 13, 2010 2:07 PM

Totally sweet (yet school appropriate) websites?

I teach computers to grades K-8 and am looking for unique interactive websites to share with my students. I want something beyond the standard game-heavy cartoon-selling kids websites, something that will really give them an idea about the web’s vast potential. The following have been big hits. Many have been suggestions from other teachers or random Mefi links that happened to be PG. How does one find more ‘raw’ sites like these?


Coloring Book http://www.isoverse.com/colorbook/

Cool Math Games http://www.Coolmath4kids.com

Do I need an umbrella? http://www.doineedanumbrella.com/

Is it Christmas? http://www.isitchristmas.com/

Kaleidoscope Painter http://www.permadi.com/java/spaint/spaint.html

Kinetic sketch http://kineticsketch.com/

Make a Flake http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/noflash.html

Matisse’s Pieces http://www.toytheater.com/matisse-pieces.php

Mobile maker http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/interactive/mobile.htm

Mr. Picasso Head http://www.mrpicassohead.com/create.html

Orisinal Games http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

poisson rouge http://www.poissonrouge.com/

splatter paint http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

starfall www.starfall.com

Typeracer http://play.typeracer.com/

posted by debbie_ann to computers & internet (14 answers total)

Homestar Runner! I think it's a pretty good example of how you can create many different forms of entertainment with the same characters.
posted by Madamina at 2:20 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com
posted by coppermoss at 2:38 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I enjoy poking around the vast and varied Frederator Studios Blog. They're the people behind the Fairly Odd Parents and a LOT of other cartoons, including tons of experimental animations that never see cable television. There's a lot of individual creators' blogs and tons of insights into the creative process. Any kid who wants to be a cartoonist or creative professional will be interested. As far as I know, they keep the whole thing work-safe and pretty kid friendly, but they don't dumb anything down. It's not a one-off website, but it's a great example of a complex, productive, fascinating blog about a niche topic.

The Whitney Music Box is one of my favorite weird things to show people on the internet, plus it involves math, music, and rainbows. Variation 5 is my favorite.
posted by Mizu at 2:48 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've had a lot of fun on Fantastic Contraption and Incredibots. These are a couple great Flash-based physics games that encourage creative problem solving. Very similar to the old The Incredible Machine games.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:56 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Orsinal. It's a games site, but very unique.
posted by nitsuj at 3:02 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Seconding Homestar Runner. It can get a little bit saucy sometimes, so you might want to screen for content, but I bet kids would LOVE the Trogdor Strongbad email and arcade-style game.
posted by oinopaponton at 3:12 PM on January 13, 2010

www.spatulatta.com
posted by molasses at 3:16 PM on January 13, 2010

www.vectorpark.com

Just... cool.
posted by cleverevans at 5:03 PM on January 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

This site is an absolute blast.

orange

Most everything on the page does something if you click on it. Seems not to work well in Chrome, btw.


Warning: as they claim, it really doesn't seem to ever end. You can spend hours on this page.
posted by fairywench at 7:18 PM on January 13, 2010

aM Laboratory Tone Matrix
posted by mezzanayne at 9:13 PM on January 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I know you don't want the kiddie games of sites like neopets or whatever, but there are some nice flash games out there that are simple and easy to understand and fun. The orisinal games, such as winterbells, really stand out here.
posted by R a c h e l at 10:12 PM on January 13, 2010

As a heads-up, I'm not sure how "raw" isitchristmas.com is. I went there and it started trying to send me to "the iTunes store."
posted by Jaltcoh at 5:48 AM on January 14, 2010

brainpop
posted by basthrohmnse at 8:34 AM on January 14, 2010

Definitely more for K than 8, but trippy fun, Boohbah Zone, from the creators of Teletubbies.
posted by hypersloth at 10:13 PM on January 14, 2010