Fun websites for children

My daughter, Sarah, is always asking to get onto the computer to play games. Of course, I allow her as long as she has completed a certain amount of school work, cleaned up a certain mess, or if she's just been extraordinarily well-behaved. Here is a list (since I do love lists!) of some of my approved sites that I'll let her go on without my hovering watch.

bellasara.com - Is a website for those who collect the Bella Sara horse trading cards. There are a lot of free things to do on the site without the purchase of any cards, which are very expensive. The child can tend their own foal, play simple games, and furnish their own little house. There is no interaction with other users, that I can see.

www.buildabearville.com - A website that does require the ownership of a Build-A-Bear stuffed toy to sign on. This is an okay site, although I do go on and check her account. There is interaction between users, and I am leery of other users who may take advantage of young children when "trading" objects/money. You can block any trading options, which is what I like to do. There many games, activities, and events that the user can participate in. And, of course, they get a "Cub Condo" that can be furnished with all sorts of wonderful objects that are won, bought, or traded.

mathslice.com - I love this website for either creating math worksheets or playing online math games. I set up what type of math problems I want my daughter to practice, and she loves it. It is a nice break from sitting at the table, filling out a boring worksheet. Although, it's all the same!

dressupdollgames.net - I'm not quite positive about this website as far as it's childproofness. From what I've seen so far, it's a good site. Sarah loves fashion. She loves to design clothes for her dolls, and this website lets her do that, virtually. She has the option to choose what type of doll she will dress up, from fairies, princesses, different ethnicities, etc. I like it so far.

nickjr.com - This is an easy one. There are tons of things to do on this site. Most of the games are educational, a plus. My daughter can navigate around the site pretty easily. I haven't had to worry about where she may end up after clicking on some link posted on the side of the page. My son has even had fun watching different video clips off of this site.

holyspiritinteractive.net - This is a wonderful religious ed. resource. It is built for parents and children. For parents, there are tons of great stories to download to read to children, there is the Saint of the Day list that is very helpful and worded for children, I think there are even printable for younger children. My daughter loves doing the jigsaw puzzles of Saints and Bible stories.

Kneebouncers.com - This is my last favorite site. This is one for my son, who is 3 years old. He likes to think he is a big boy for having his own ".com" to go on. This is a keyboard interactive website for wee ones, that has little lights, sounds, and movement that can be stimulated/activated by pressing any key. Of course, my son always finds the keys that cue other programs on my computer, and next thing I know, he's got 10 different windows open doing who knows what.

Okay, I''m all typed out now. I felt the need to share some of the sites I approve for my children. I know that when I started out homeschooling, and when I started to let my daughter get onto the computer to play games, I searched for other parents' lists. There are a few other sites I may post in the future of homeschool resources. There are so many places on the internet for parents/teachers to find information and ideas to use to teach their children. But all that is for another day...