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KID PORTALS: Safe Playgrounds in Cyberspace
A hot new thing on the Internet these days is portals. Portals are websites that focus on a specific interest and act as a gateway to the Internet for that interest. They usually provide their own content and link to other sites as well. Good portals exercise editorial muscle in choosing sites with which to link; and thereafter, they monitor those linked sites. We have carefully reviewed many of the current kid portals and found that several provide excellent cyber-playgrounds—they are safe, fun, and educational!
Recently celebrating its one-year existence on the Web, Alfy.com presents a rich sight and sound web portal for kids ages 3-9. A special graphical interface helps make it easy for even pre-readers to navigate. Another helpful pre-reading feature is “audible rollovers”—talking explanations that occur when the cursor moves over certain graphics. Created by educators to offer kids a fun and safe experience on the web, this site focuses on educating young children in entertaining ways using numerous interactive stories, games, and activities. Preschoolers will delight at learning to count by yo-yoing spiders up and down the screen in an activity found in the 'Brain Train' section. In the 'Music Mania' section, kids learn about instruments and melodies. The 'Surprises' section tickles the school age set with jokes and riddles. 'Cool Links' sends kids surfing to other fun and safe sites such as National Geographic and Seussville Science. To keep children safe from accidentally surfing into inappropriate sites, parents can download a free program called the “Alfy Shield.” When on, the Alfy Shield allows children to surf only “ALFY Cool Sites”—websites that have been reviewed and approved by Alfy’s educator panel. Alfy.com also houses resources for parents and teachers.
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This kid portal targets children ages 7 to 12. Its top-of-the-page tool bar lets children decide whether they want to check out games, fun, cool sites, shopping, bulletin boards (called “B Boards”), chat, or email. The games section has over 300 games which are refreshed weekly. Our kid testers enjoyed playing a wild game of tennis in the “Sports” games and Othello in the “Brain” games. The “Cool Sites” section was easy to navigate and serves as a springboard to a bevy of kid-appropriate websites. The site is linked to over 5,000 other children’s sites. Everything on the site is carefully monitored, including the email options and chat rooms. Children can only interact with children on their parent-approved “Cyberfriends” list. We liked the ability to set up personal chat rooms that take place on a spaceship. You will not find spam or adult lurkers here.
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One of the oldest kid portals, this site links to over 2000 other sites on the Internet. It also offers over 100 visually stimulating activities that entice children to explore its “digital sandbox.” Again, careful monitoring is par.
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For older children, special teen portals worth investigating include The Student Center: www.studentcenter.org and, for members of America Online, AOL Teens, a section reached from the main welcome page of AOL. Both teen portals offer access to a wide variety of sites covering such topics as music, movies, sports, poetry, health, schools, and colleges. Both help facilitate communication with other teens in chat rooms, through email, or by building webpages.
Some of these kid portals even offer activities that parents and children can explore together. If surfing together isn’t possible or optimum, remember to encourage conversation on the sites explored. It is nice to know that when the sun sets on the outdoor playgrounds, that the cyber ones are always open and can provide a wealth of learning.
All software is judged on a five star scale by looking at the following five factors:
educational, fun, ease of use, value, technical.
Jinny Gudmundsen is the Editor of Computing With Kids magazine. If you have
questions or comments, please write to: .
© 2012 Computing With Kids
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