What should my child do now on the internet?

July 27, 2005 12:54 PM

My 4 year old has outgrown the internet.

Teletubbies. Playhouse Disney. Nick Jr. Having mastered the mouse and the browser at age .75, these sites are now dead to him.

I'm interested in getting him involved in more complex explorations/games/whathaveyou. Things like GROW, Avoider, Pandaf Golf, and maybe even simple Logo.
Stuff that isn't total commercial/violent brainrot, that involves new challenges and, ideally, reinforcement of logical/deductive thinking. Yes, he runs around and plays outside with friends and teachers eight hours a day, has analog-paper storytime, etc., no need to extol the sins of the boob tube.

What, if anything, fits in this space for you?

posted by felix to computers & internet (12 comments total)

toontalk (maybe too young?)
posted by andrew cooke at 12:59 PM on July 27, 2005

Wumpa's World - based on an Inuit television show. Has cultural, interactive games for kids between 3 and 5 with a parent's guide and activity book.
posted by KathyK at 1:19 PM on July 27, 2005

Disney's online title Toon Town has always been a favorite of my kids. They too mastered the early bits of the online world faster than I would have liked. I had given my 9 year old son an old laptop of mine for his in-room computer last summer, and he's barely touched it, as it'll only play educational CD Rom games, and he can't stand the screen update speed.
posted by thanotopsis at 1:19 PM on July 27, 2005

Some of the games at Orisinal might work, if you're thinking about GROW.

If you're willing to consider consoles, my four year old adores Katamari Damacy (and sometimes beats me in two player matches).
posted by gnomeloaf at 1:55 PM on July 27, 2005

Game On, produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has some very rich, wonderful games to explore. Although they might be too involved for your child alone, I imagine they'd be great fun to play together.
posted by gorillawarfare at 2:05 PM on July 27, 2005

Dyson telescope will get him thinking. He might also like the fare at Nick.com (not NickJr) or Pilkey.com (author of Captain Underpants).
posted by caddis at 2:28 PM on July 27, 2005

My 4 yr old nephew loves Bejeweled and Bookworm over at popcap.com, though I have to play with him to supply him with enough hints to keep the game from ending too quickly.
posted by Sangre Azul at 4:11 PM on July 27, 2005

Planarity is a wonderful game. I've lost many hours to it. Might be too tough for a 4 year old but it certainly meets your logical thinking requirement.
posted by smash at 5:03 PM on July 27, 2005

A few more:

Paper wad toss
Fly Guy (pretty limited, yet fun)
Car racing
Copter in a cave
Arcade games
Bubble wrap (OK, not intellectual, or skilled, or anything but fun)
MarioKart DoubleDash
Got Orion (a ton of games, but not all are appropriate for this age)
Free Arcade (another ton, same caveat, perhaps even stronger)

Even young kids love to play WEBoggle with their parents. Let them give you words. At four they probably can't give you many if any depending upon their skills but in no time you will be amazed.
posted by caddis at 6:22 PM on July 27, 2005

Yahooligans! The Web Guide for Kids.
posted by JPowers at 9:32 PM on July 27, 2005

WHAT? No CBBC!? No BBC Schools - Pre-school?! The little kiddo has just barely started to tap the vast potential of the net!
posted by majick at 11:42 AM on July 28, 2005

I always liked Lemmings, myself; it makes you think.

Someone's rewritten it in DHTML.
posted by baylink at 5:28 PM on August 4, 2005