I'm just another working mom seeking a few moments of Zen and zinfandel between soccer practice and supper. My former beach bartender husband founded 
It’s fall break for our school district this week so I thought I’d share a few of our favorite websites. Miss C will be spending a few days with the grandparents, which is nice for both them and her.
We had thought about going to Florida, but we’ve been twice this year and there’s the whole ER visit bill and Miss C has discovered American Girl dolls just in time for Christmas. Even if we scored a discounted or free deal on lodging (we often stay at my dad or stepmom’s condo in Navarre Beach,) once you factor in gas, groceries, dining out, and matching family airbrushed t-shirts from the strip (just kidding on that one) well, it’s still an expense. So we’re staying home.
I know there are times, especially if the weather is bad this fall or during Christmas break, that my girls might need a little preoccupying. Here are our kid-approved websites:
Kideos.com: I just discovered this recently and Miss A also really loves it. These are kid friendly (i.e. no fear of your 3-year-old accidentally clicking on some inappropriate Dora You Tube video some punk has dubbed over so that your child learns to say eff you in Spanish) and also categorized by age appropriateness, all the way up to ages 9-10.
BellaSara.com: Beautiful graphics for the horse lover and I swear doesn’t every girl go through a I HEART HORSES phase? You do need to purchase the trading cards to add horses to your stable but that’s it. I like this site better than Webkinz.
Carrotsticksonline.com: Nice, simple math website minus a lot of annoying bells and whistles. Kids can create a custom avatar that looks like them, which is fun.
Coolmath4kids.com: Miss C’s 2nd grade teacher has introduced this site to her class and Miss C loves it. She needs a little help with math and persuading that math is fun, so this is a great site for her.
Barbie.everythinggirl.com: What can I say? We love Barbie. I especially love, I mean the girls especially love, the salon games where you can give Barbie and her friends a makeover or paint their nails. If you’re a Barbie hater, and I know you’re out there, just skip this site, OK?
NickJr.com: Miss A especially loves playing games featuring her favorite characters, from Dora to Diego.
Sprout Online: I’m on the Sprout Band of Bloggers so I do want to give them a shout out. Miss A loves to play Dress Chica. Kids can also send in their artwork to be featured on Sprout.
PBSKids.com: Great games and activities. If only Big Bird had been online when I was a kid.
Starfall.com: Wonderful site for young readers. Zac the Rat will forever remind me of Miss C’s kindergarten days.
National Geographic Kids: Cool videos, games, and other activities about animals and science.
Adding a few more for 2010…
Poptropica: Pure gaming fun. My 8-year-old has actually figured out how to Google tips and tricks for unlocking some of the levels.
Multiplication.com: Great for my 3rd grader and a fun way to reinforce those pesky multiplication tables.
What are your favorite kid friendly websites?
These are in no way paid endorsements or requests, these are just websites my girls frequent.
Oooooh, thanks for those great sites, I need them too!
Matching family airbrushed tees, hee hee. Those things can happen when you are swept away in the moment of vacation!
.-= Lauren´s last blog ..Road Trip Ramblings =-.
Love these! We’ve found Starfall and my son loves Pirates of the Carribean online as well as Kidzui. Kidzui I am NOT so sure about though—even though it is supposedly secure for kids. And, my kids always love getting on the Webkinz site with their pets!
.-= Steph.´s last blog ..Do You Have a Sign on Your Back? =-.
My 7-year-old just found another cool site called:
Factmonster.com
I’ll add it to the list!
.-= Jamie´s last blog ..No School For Six Days, Oh My Lawd, Keep The Kids Busy Websites =-.
Oh, yes. Good gravy, girl. I’ve already made plans for my twin boys. But, websites? Great new recs for my 6yo to try.
I always say that Fall Break and Spring Break are hardly “breaks” for parents—even if you are on the beach. It’s still so much work.
So jealous you’ve been to FL twice this year. I’ve not been to the beach in more than 4 years. My kids have never been. Nice to have relatives with housing.
.-= Mary@The Writer’s Block´s last blog ..News Round-up =-.
Great list. My kids also love Club Penguin and if you go to Lego.com, you can download a software program where kids can build legos on the computer, design their own and then even upload their creations back to the site to share.
Those are great websites. I remember growing up I used to go to lego.com, disney.com, as well as pbskids.org/arthur
We know starfall (AWESOME) and Nick Jr. and the PBS ones, but I will be referring to this list for some of the others. Great list!
Starfall is great! It’s one of our favorites. I’m almost scared to tell my daughter about that horse site. She will never get off the computer!
.-= Momo Fali´s last blog ..Head Case =-.
Thanks for the websites. My little girl (7) has just been introduced to the wonders of the www. I couldn’t believe how much junk websites my hubby and I had to go through just to find quality sites my girl could spend time on. I generally prefer the education ones over the TV/network sponsored sites.
Thank you for your list of kid friendly websites. Keeping kids busy is a full time job. A good children’s website is a saving grace. National Geographic Kids is great and very educational.
OMG, THANK YOU for this post! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
=-)
Two new ones to add this year:
Poptropica.com
Not really educational but BOTH my girls love love it! They are 8 and 5.
And multiplication.com (great for my 3rd grader.)
Abcya.com is a new fave!