Creative Internet Sites for Kids and Educators

4th and 5th Grade Student Web Resources - A virtual library full of links to many different subjects. Educators and kids will both find lots of good links here - this is definitely worth a look.

Fun Brain - Contains lots of great online games for kids, on all subjects.

Library & Research Skills for Children - This is part of the LibraryLand: Index to Resources for Librarians site. It contains links to many different sites that have information about kids and library / research skills.

Online Games for Kids (from About.com) - Includes links to online scavenger hunts, educational games to play, and other fun stuff.

Secondary School Educators - About.com's resources for secondary school educators - a great resource for teachers.

WebQuest - Includes info on creating a Web scavenger hunt for kids, as well as examples for all age groups. Creating a Web Quest could be a good way to get kids to use the Internet creatively.

Pioneers -- This ThinkQuest site provides information about early American pioneers. Learn about life on the trail, pioneer cooking and music, and more. Online quizzes allow kids to test their knowledge.

The History Place -- A well-designed site including such features as Photo of the Week, This Month in History, and Personal Histories - recollections of the people who lived through history in the making.

This Day in History - Find out what happened around the world on this day in history. You can also search for events that happened on a particular day (for instance, a child's birthday).

Word Central - This site includes a kid-oriented dictionary, Buzzword of the Day and more. It's set up like the halls of a school, and kids will have fun navigating around and exploring.

Fractal Generator - Even if kids don't know the math behind creating fractals, the beautiful patterns might help inspire them.

Elementary Math Problem of the Week - Every week during the school year, a new math problem is posted, and kids can solve it and e-mail their solutions. An archive of past math problems is available.

Play Music - Kids navigate through this site using the metaphor of a band room. They can learn about different instruments, play games, listen to music, and learn about composers and musicians.

Bigchalk -- Bigchalk contains a handpicked database of educational web sites. You can search by keyword or grade level. Winner of the 2001 Codie Award for Best Educational Web Site for Kids.

Ditto - This visual search engine allows you to search the Web for pictures. You can either type in your keywords, or browse categories such as animals, holidays, nature, people and more.

Do The Dewey - This site, sponsored by a Middletown, NY library, teaches kids about the basics of the Dewey Decimal System and provides an online game kids can play to test their knowledge.

Fact Monster - This kid's version of the popular "Information Please" almanac is fun to look at and has some good information.

Internet Public Library - Includes activities for kids and teens, and a great online reference center.

KidsClick: Worlds of Web Searching - A great kid-oriented introduction to Web searching. Discusses what is (and is not) available on the Web, Boolean searching, keyword searching, automated robots and spiders, and more.

Exploratorium - This is the Web site of a hands-on science museum in San Francisco. It includes online exhibits and interactive science activities.

How Stuff Works - If you've got a curious kid on your hands, this is a great site for them. Find out how all kinds of things work, from toilets to cell phones, jet engines to web servers.

Kids' Health - Includes lots of interactive games and exhibits, including a section on the body, a question/answer section, and information about going to the doctor, dentist or hospital.

Middle School Earth Science Explorer - You can take a trip back to when dinosaurs ruled the earth, or learn about the systems that make the Earth work, in this interactive exhibit.

Proton Don's Periodic Table Game - A fun game to help kids learn the periodic table of elements.

Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids - Kids can choose a grade range and take a guided tour of our government.

Culture Quest World Tour - Join Olivia Owl and Parsifal Penguin as they explore cultures around the world.

Mapquest - Kids will enjoy this site, where you can print maps for a specific address (kids can print out maps of their neighborhood), get local city information, and more.

Third from the Sun -- "Geographical features as seen from space" - kids can try to identify pictures taken from orbit.

States and Capitals - This is a really neat site. Kids click on the state they are researching, and all sorts of information about the state is displayed. Links to all sorts of information about each state are provided.

Where is That? - A fun and educational game from Funbrain.com - kids have to identify the highlighted portion of a map. You can choose skill level and also choose the country or continent maps you wish to use.