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Recreation: Websites |
We're proud to bring you this list of KidSource approved and rated websites! Each website has been reviewed by the KidSource staff for its content, overall quality and ease of use. We've sorted them by age group or by category.
Our rating system for these websites is:
- Best, in depth and most helpful overall
- Very Good, but more specific in focus
- Good reference material
If you have a favorite website that you'd like us to review, please visit our Submit URL page.
Family.com - Family Activities
Family.com, produced by Disney is a site filled with ideas, projects and other resources for families. You'll find everything from food to travel, from learning to local activities, plus shopping and discussion boards.
Are you looking for activities to do with your family? Then start here. They have lots of activities in categories such as indoor, outdoor, learning, inexpensive, crafts, parties, sports and more. Search by category or by age. Or of you are looking for local activities, you can search by state.
KidsHealth, created by doctors and health professionals, provides information to parents and kids about a wide range of children's health care issues. Using a fun, colorful train theme, award-winning KidsHealth provides up-to-date reliable information about growth, well child care, behavior, common childhood illnesses, immunizations, asthma, hyperactivity and lots more.
This is one of the most comprehensive pediatric medical sites we've found. It's well designed and divided into sections for kids, parents and professionals. The kids' section has those common, but difficult quesitions that children ask. The parents' section has one of the best reference sections on childhood diseases on the web. The information is both understandable and technically complete.
ScienceMaster - the science and technology network
ScienceMaster is a resource for students, teachers and parents for all your science education needs. We feature news, information, products and services, jump start topics research and links. Site is arranged in easy-to-use format. Great for homework and researching school projects.
A great site for those who love science and for those who want to teach children about science. You could spend hours surfing through this site!
Kids' Camps, the Internet's most comprehensive directory of camps, summer experiences and camp jobs, has over 12,000 programs listed in its searchable database. From day camps to resort camps, special needs camps to teen tours, camp suppliers to camp jobs, the Kids' Camps directory has proven to be a a valuable free resource for families.
A comprehensive searchable-by-region website of camps for kids, families, and special needs children. Includes photos, descriptions and contact information. This site provides a valuable (and free) service for parents!
The Processed Apples Institute
This site gives kids a chance to play games and, at the same time, learn about drinking healthy beverages such as 100% apple juice.
Visually fun, this site also contains recipes, nutritional information, the story of Johnny Appleseed and more. A great place to visit with your kids. From the Processed Apples Institute.
Weekly Reader Galaxy It is a great educational site for all! It's for kids: Weekly Reader Galaxy features a stellar of activities for kids in PK through grade 10. Kids can speak out on important issues, enter contests, color on-line, play trivia games, participate in weekly polls, read news updates, take on-line field trips, and much more. It's for teachers: Teachers can journey through the Galaxy to find updates to important Weekly Reader stories, explore Web links to other news sources and educational resources, and find activities to use in the classroom. It's for parents: Parents can get parenting tips written by experts from the National Parenting Center and medical tips written by our panel of doctors. They can also play an arcade of fun activities with kids and cook up tasty recipes.
Not only is this site graphically cool, it's loaded with fun activities, historical trivia, ask the expert, virtual field trips and contests. The information is age-categorized for parents, teachers, and kids for easy navigation and houses a resource for 8000 software titles.
To People Interested in Helping Kids: Please tell your friends about Kid's Korner and Toddler Tales, a free web page for all kids but especially for disabled, injured, or ill children. It has illustrated stories that can be read wherever a hospital has computers or at home in bed. The URL is: These stories are fun, entertaining, educational, teach good values, and are illustrated in full color. They are unique and may help fill the need for quality reading for children: TODDLER TALES "Blow Wind Blow" (age 2-6): A child asks his mother what the wild wind is saying when it blows through the valley and the trees and shakes the window glass, and she tells him. "A Mouse Named Fred" (age 2-6): A little mouse is helped by his friends when his efforts to beautify his home could attract the neighborhood cat. KID'S KORNER "Calling Bird" (for age 7-12) A young Indian maiden sings so beautifully that even the trees are charmed, until one day she has a terrible accident. Will she ever regain her voice? "The Cat In The Woods" (for age 7-12) A cat hides in the woods so as not to be eaten and discovers different kinds of friendship. Will his new friends eat him? "The Naughty Little Good Witch" (for age 4-9): A little witch gets in trouble for doing good things. Can she protect her friends from her cruel mother? "Kukahiko Island" (for age 3-12): A special island where a cuckoo kicks coconuts against a kayak because everything begins with the 'K' sound, an island where krazy and tongue-twisting things happen daily. "Bohideus: Edge Of Another World" (age 9-14), Adventure/Sci-Fi: A young boy is catapulted into the adventure of a life-time when he is pulled by the forces of nature over the largest waterfall in the universe and ends up in a strange new world. He survives using his wits and ingenuity, but will he ever be able to return home? (Click on chapter of your choice) Thank-you, The authors, Adrienne Potter and Warren Scott Foster
If you are looking for child-friendly web sites to share with your preschool or grades school child, this is it! This site has illustrated children's stories in large type with age appropriate material!
Make a Farm - An Activity for Kids
Free software for students to create their own model farm, with silo, barn, chicken coop, etc. Kids set out fields, choose crops, decide what animals to have on their farm, and what to grow to feed themselves and their animals.
This is one of a variety of free software programs for young kids to do with their parents. Requires Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 and a printer.
Special Children from The Mining Company is a site built on love and committment to educating and empowering those who are touched by having special children in their lives. This site is new but growing quickly with many goals.
A well organized site that has basic information on a wide variety of learning disabilities and other topics for children with special needs. It's main value is the useful lists of links sorted by category.
Purple-Moon.com is a girls' online community where girls can make new friends, create their own personal pages, collect and trade virtual treasures, and go on exciting adventures with a diverse cast of nearly 20 Purple Moon characters! Activities include voting, scavenger hunts and the creating all-new stories that are published on the Web site.
If you have a daughter aged 8-12, you will be interested in this girl-friendly, safe and fun site. The website allows girls to see the latest software featuring Rockett and her friends, go on adventures with these characters and send postcards to other girls who share similar interests. There are some parental controls available and all postcard conversations require a password login.
RollerBags.com - Backpacks on Wheels!
Take that weight off your back! Rollerbags.com is the home site for the Roller Backpack, which is a backpack that allows you to easily transport heavy loads on wheels instead of straining your back. If you prefer, the Roller Backpack can also be carried like a traditional backpack using the adjustable padded shoulder straps. The back panel is padded for additional comfort. To help public awareness, Rollerbags.com is also sponsoring a childrens’ back pain resource site to house a collection of articles discussing the problem.
If you've ever wondered about how heavy backpacks may be effecting your child's back, then visit this site. They have a long list of news and reference articles on the topic. They also sell a truely unique backpack that converts into a pull cart with wheels.
Healthcare site for children with health, safety tips, resourceful links,safe links for kids and information about the non-profit organization. St. John's well child center serves the families of Los Angeles, California.
If you're looking for a variety of good safety and health tips, you'll find them here. You'll also find a good set of links to a variety of parenting, health and safety sites. This site will be of interest to all parents, not just those in the Los Angeles area.
Although it is easy to navigate the Web, finding quality family sites is frustrating and time consuming. That is why hundreds of thousands of newspaper readers rely on Barbara J. Feldman's "Surfing the Net with Kids." Each weekly column rates and reviews five fun, educational Web sites on topics as diverse as Stock Market Games, Ben Franklin, Paper Airplanes and Tigers.
If you and your kids spend time surfing the internet for homework or fun, this site is going to be one of your favorite bookmarks. Their site gives short description (pre-screen sites) about where to find this month's featured topics and sites categorized by subjects such as math, science, history and geography.
Innovative children's theatre program offering up to 12 original one-act plays written specifically for students ages 7-14. 3, 5 and 10 play packets include all performing rights forever (no royalty fees required - ever!), production notes (props, costumes, etc.), and Operations and Procedures Guide offering set design tips, direction technique and step by step fail-safe list to ensure drama teacher's success in their production.
If you are involved in children's theatre, this commercial site offer plays and written production assistance for plays that are designed for children (25-35 minutes, ages 7-14).
Space Coast Early Intervention Center
A nationally recognized not-for-profit pre-school and therapeutic center for children with and without developmental delays ages 18 months to five years. Our environment provides role modeling from peers and allows the children to reach their full potential.
This site is for parents who are looking for an organization to provide early intervention programs. While light on general information, it will be of interest to parents looking for contacts and resources.
A free online magazine for parents and caregivers of children with special needs. Features include Success Stories, Tips, a family advice column, informative disability related articles, a discussion forum, and more!
An on-line magazine for parents of special needs children that addresses the hope, success and some of the frustration of parenting such a child.
Spilt Milk - an e-zine for parents
Spilt Milk is an e-zine for parents to be, parents who are and parents who can take no more. A new issue comes out each month with feature articles and regular columns by parents. The site allows oth Mothers and Fathers from around the world the opportuniy to share information and submit articles and dedicatios to children for publication. As of December 1998 the site will include prizes for feedback and gifts for published articles.
An online magazine (e-zine) for parents to be and current parents which features regular columns as well as feature articles. Humorous, forthright and easily navigated, this new website is a good place to blow off some parenting steam or read some touching personal stories.
Help your son or daughter get the most from their soccer experience. In the words of Anne H. Woodworth, mom of Alexi Lalas, the best-known U.S. player, The Soccer Mom Handbook provides "a good solid background in soccer, combined with laughs and a basic message of common sense, ingredients that will make being a soccer mom one of the best experiences of your parenting." The website introduces the book and provides additional tips and information. Team managers will get help from other tips and the book What? ME Manage the Soccer Team?
If your child plays soccer, you'll appreciate this site. While it primarily promotes their books, you'll also find amusing and practical information about being an infamous "soccer mom".
Puzzles that children can directly manipulate on the web page, teaching math, thinking and general problem solving skills. Have fun!
Children's favorite songs with lyrics and midi files.
A very educational and well done site. Based on the popular magazine and tv series.
Covers geography, animals,reviews computer games and books,and provides patterns for 3-D paper toys including Pokemon.
