Online Fun for All Ages
Recently my sons and I have been browsing the web for online games and activities. Today, we'd like to tell you about four of our favorites. We have selected sites which should appeal to kids from the toddler to the teen years. And the grown-ups might like some of these first. Links to all the sites featured will be at the end of this article.
To begin with, my four year old is quite enamored of the Nick Jr. site. Yes, all the games are based on Nick Jr. programs, which could be a plus or minus depending on your feelings toward Nick Jr. His favorite Nick Jr. program is "Max and Ruby," so naturally his favorite games are the bowling and dress me games featuring those two lovable young bunnies. There's not a lot of educational content here, but he does get practice with the mouse and learns about cause and effect. There are many other character oriented games on this site. Unfortunately many of them, including the "Dora the Explorer" ones are not compatible with the Mac operating system. Another favorite for my son is the "Rubber Dubbers" matching game. He likes to visit this site as a special treat. Parents, you may want to visit the site first. There is a fair amount of advertising there including pop-up ads. Check it out, and if you don't think it's too commercial you will find many activities your toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy.
The Chevron Car site is another fun spot for us. Although there is also a "store" on this site, where you can buy merchandise featuring the Chevron Cars the "playground" or games part of the site is ad free. For those of you not familiar with the Chevron Cars, these are animated cars with faces which are featured on Chevron gasoline commercials. The Chevron site also has a strict privacy policy which you can read about, before your kids register on the site. It is not necessary to register, but registered players have a chance at various prizes including watches and toy cars. More incentive to play and learn!
There are fourteen activities to choose from, including matching, dot to dot, racing, obstacle courses, jigsaw puzzles, tic tac puzzles, and various other arcade type activities. Most of these activities are probably best for ages 6 and up, although my 4 year old enjoyed the Match Me game and Get Dirty, which is an obstacle course type game.
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