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Name of Site: ABC Kids
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/children/
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: QuickTime, Media Player, Real Player
Review: The ABC web team have dashed into the playground armed with tubes
of non-toxic acrylic paint and just gone a-squirting. The splodges of
paint reveal the tip of the juvenile iceberg our favourite government
sponsored media outlet is famous for. Each show has its own rich and fun-packed
zone, done in the same style as the show itself, plus a huge range of
interactive and informative features across the board - chat, discussion
boards, live powwows with well-known guests, program guides, games and
downloads. There is even a section for adults to help them get the most
out of this for their little ones. An exciting and engaging place any
kid could call home. - SS
Name of Site: Yahooligans!
URL: http://www.yahooligans.com/
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: Parents used to worry about their kids playing in the mud. Today
the dirt in the garden has been replaced by the sleaze and slime of the
Internet. So instead of making a homepage out of one of the traditional
search engines, a good idea is to bookmark a site like Yahooligans!, a
browseable, searchable directory of Internet sites for kids, carefully
checked by experienced educators for their appropriateness. Billed as
the "web guide for kids", Yahooligans! has polls, jokes, reviews
and plenty more to keep your kids staring at the screen instead of emitting
the usual high pitched noises, so carefully orchestrated to annoy the
hell out of you. - SS
Name of Site: KidsGardening.com
URL: http://www.kidsgardening.com
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: It's time to unplug the X-Box and get down and dirty in the real
world. Nothing beats gardening for putting you in touch with life's mysteries
and bringing out the environmentalist in even the most hardened virtual
reality gamer. This site hangs off and hooks in to the main adult gardening
site, since of course there is not too much a kid can't know about gardening
that an adult can, except maybe the germination habits of a few tropical
fruit trees. Plant the seed of curiosity and nurture the notion of sustainability
through this inspiring and involving site. There are featured projects,
facts sheets, a shop, and the chance to dig deeper into the mounds of
information on greenhouses, hydroponics and many school initiatives. Get
back to your roots and grow your own brain. - SS
Name of Site: Discovery Kids - The Yuckiest Site on the Internet
URL: http://yucky.kids.discovery.com/
Load Time: Slow
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: Flash
Review: 'Groooooss!'... It's the catchcry of kids everywhere as they carry
out insect experiments, talk about the opposite sex and throw stuff at
each other. With a worm as your guide and plenty of green slime splashed
over the screen, the Yuckiest site on the Internet delves into mysteries
like 'where boogers come from?' and 'what makes poop smell?' If this intellectual
stimulation isn't what you're after, you can take a trip into Yucky Roach
World. Here you can play X-Terminate, the game where you give it to those
nasty critters, or feel more sympathetic and read Ralph Roach's diary...my
favourite line: "2 am. I think I smell a hot babe... but it may just
be the bug spray". - SS
Name of Site: Crayola
URL: http://www.crayola.com/
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: Flash, Shockwave
Review: From the folks who bring joy to kids, and nightmares to landlords
the world over comes a pretty impressive little temple honouring the humble
crayon. Parents, teachers and Kids all have their own sections, and the
content is as rich as the range of colours in the Crayola collection.
Without logging in you can do a lot of cool stuff - play games and learn
all about colours and browse the online supermarket. Sign up and you'll
get your own Crayola passport to interact, win, learn and have a whole
heap of colourful fun. - SS
Name of Site: NASA Kids
URL: http://www.nasakids.com/
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: Flash
Review: Floating somewhere in the depths of space, with a strange mix
of useful information and really bad drawings is NASA's contribution to
global education. With lots of interviews, lessons and pictures to check
out, there's plenty of learning to be done, and if you just want entertainment
there's cartoons, models to make and pictures to draw. Compared to some
of the slicker offerings for kids these days, the site looks pretty dated
and very terrestrial, yet it's still useful, especially for school projects
and those pesky kids who ask too many unanswerable questions. - SS
Name of Site: EPA Global Warming Kids Site
URL: http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: Flash
Review: With the world falling to pieces, faster than you can say 'climatological
disaster', it's a good idea to get 'em started young on fixing the planet.
This site, started by the US Environmental Protection Agency (presumably
out of guilt about a certain Kyoto protocol agreement), teaches kids all
about the climate, the greenhouse effect and what can be done. With a
lot of useful suggestions, links, flash animations and bright colours
it's a must for every environmentally conscious child. - SS
Name of Site: Funbrain
URL: http://www.funbrain.com/
Load Time: Slow
Ease of Navigation: Need a map
Plug Ins Required: Flash
Review: I know what you're thinking, Funbrain sounds suspiciously like
an oxymoron, and to some extent it probably is (anybody for Math Baseball?),
but if you can't have fun learning, then well there's a good chance you'll
wind up flippin' burgers for the minimum wage, or worse still tapping
out web site reviews in the wee hours of the morning for the rest of your
life! So I recommend after choosing your age category (or estimating mental
age in my case) you can opt to play everything from "Spell the Chemical
Elements" to "Grammar Gorillas". And if that doesn't propel
you to a career as Peter Costello's next gimp, then I don't know what
will! - SS
NName of Site: Central Intelligence Agency Homepage for Kids
URL: http://www.cia.gov/cia/ciakids/
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: With the war on terror in full swing and plenty of long-running
covert operations stretching human resources, recruitment age has been
dropped to sub-teen levels. The CIA is now training kids, to topple governments,
install puppet regimes, control lines of supply of illicit drugs, arrange
arms deals, plant evidence, start wars, help corporations take over entire
countries, fan the flames of social discontent and live it large on the
proceeds of all of the above. Kids, get in on the fun right now! Just
prove your intelligence by rearranging the CIA emblem, pledge your allegiance
to the flag, and you're set on a career of chaos and mayhem across the
planet - Playstation? Who needs it when you can wipe out enemies of the
state for real! - SS
Name of Site: FoxKids Australia
URL: http://www.foxkids.com.au/
Load Time: Slow
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: Flash
Review: I nearly didn't even enter this site, I was too busy getting down
and funky, groovin' to the welcome screen beats. That set the mood for
the coolest TV guide ever. What's on now, next and for the rest of the
week on Fox's ankle-biter channel, ensures I don't miss any of my favourite
shows. While I am waiting for them to unfurl as the week goes by, I can
amuse myself with a few quaint and silly little games. Who needs a babysitter?
If the TV guide and games get you hooked, sign up and become a die-hard
Fox kid and hang out in the members' lounge. Don't spend too long there,
though. Remember, the point is to watch TV, not hang out on the Internet,
silly. Now where's the remote? - SS
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