Comments on: Web fun for 3 to 4 year olds

Question: Web fun for 3 to 4 year olds

rolypolyman — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:36:26 -0800

Please recommend a good puzzle or activity website that's suitable for a 3 or 4 year old.

Good: Boobah Zone seen here is ideal. You can click just about anywhere and just have fun.

Not so good: Well, for example, BBC Cbeebies -- the ones I tried invariably start out with instructions and require very specific keypresses that have to be memorized. It's for an older age group.

Ideas? Thanks.

By: spinning jennie

spinning jennie — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:41:59 -0800

Bembo's Zoo is a favorite here. We adults find it as charming as the kiddo!

By: tastybrains

tastybrains — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:44:37 -0800

Kaboose's FunSchool Preschool section seems like it has some fun stuff targeted to that age range.

Up to Ten has some cute stuff.

Lil' Fingers is geared towards toddlers - it has easy-to-click stuff & stories that both have text and are read aloud.

By: project 2501

project 2501 — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:01:35 -0800

Have you checked out starfall ?
It is levelized, but there are definitely some areas which might fit the bill.

By: selfmedicating

selfmedicating — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:04:02 -0800

The Sesame Street games section has entertained my 4 yr old for a long time. The Elmo games are pretty easy, good to start out with.

By: Sassyfras

Sassyfras — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:04:41 -0800

Seconding Up to Ten, especially, Boowa and Kwala. My children love it.

Playhouse Disney has some fun stuff as well, with Ooh and Aah being the favorite in our house.

By: bibliowench

bibliowench — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:04:56 -0800

This Jackson Pollock page is a favorite with my kids.

By: bibliowench

bibliowench — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:21:51 -0800

. . . and it doesn't have instructions. Move the mouse to splatter paint and click to change color.

By: mistsandrain

mistsandrain — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:30:07 -0800

Seconding Starfall.com
My kids love it.

By: amyms

amyms — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 08:06:34 -0800

NickJr has some cute games and activities for pre-schoolers.

By: mattbucher

mattbucher — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 08:33:33 -0800

Webkinz and Club Penguin

By: gfrobe

gfrobe — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 08:46:54 -0800

Orisinal has some really nice games. My 3 year old loves the one with the egg and the basket (3rd row from bottom)

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:53:54 -0800

falling sand game might work.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:58:20 -0800

To get a sense of how the falling sand game works, begin by drawing small cups under each "waterfall". (You just draw with your mouse.)

If you want to get complicated, the different colors of "sand" are different materials (water, sand, oil...), and you begin by drawing with wax but you can change to drawing with other materials (algae, fire...). The interactions yield different behaviors (algae grows in water, fire grows in oil). There is also a "destroy everything" button - the yellow circle. I don't know what triggers that. If your little one gets attached to drawings, try to figure out how to avoid activating that. Otherwise this is just a mellow little activity.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:59:24 -0800

Switch materials at the bottom of the screen. I think if you click on "Namekuji", you can deactivate the destroy-everything blob.

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:54:03 -0800

Nthing Starfall.com Kids have taught themselves to read on this site.

By: oclipa

oclipa — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:29:24 -0800

My 4 year old daughter loves CBeebies, although she is fairly proficient with the keyboard and mouse. She seems to work out the instructions by trial and error.
She also loves the Club Penguin site. We can let her loose in the "Ultimate Safe Chat" rooms where she explores the site and plays the (fairly simple) games.
If you're just looking to boost a child's computer skils, you could take a look at the BBC Computer Tutor site. You might need to go through it with the child a couple of times, but my daughter seemed to pick things up pretty quickly.

By: j0hnnyb

j0hnnyb — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:24:58 -0800

Kids' CBC is like CBeebies, but from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Mostly mouse-based games and activities. I don't see a lot of keyboarding here.