Expert: Candace Huber - 1/25/2005

Question
i have two grandson's. one is nine, the other is 3. the first thing is everytime my kids go to sites online we get bombarded with spam. is there anyway of avoiding this. the other question is what good sites are there for my ten year old that does not involve shooting at targets or the like?
thank you

Answer
Hi Jan,

Spam is definitely a problem for everyone!  I personally am assaulted on a daily basis.  My suggestion to keep unwanted spam down is to not give out your email address or to use a free email address to those places that require it.  You can get free email from Yahoo.com.  The other thing is to use a spam filter on your email program.  I use a free one called SpamFilter.com that works great.  

I am not sure why you are getting spam from gaming sites though.  I've been playing games online for lots of years and haven't had that problem. The only thing I can think of is that you are playing at places that require you to sign up to play. These places might be selling your email address.  If this is the case, the list of games below should stop that problem.  

My list of game sites have games of all kinds some are probably shooting (though I try not to list those game sites), some educational, some for older kids and some for younger kids.  I suggest you go through the list and find the sites you like and save those to your favorites. That way you can control where you grand-kids are visiting on the net.  

I hope this list helps and let me know if you have any problems with it.  

To use the following game links, click the link or if it's not clickable copy and paste the link into your web browser.  Sometimes our email programs break up long links.  If this happens copy the first line and paste it into your web browser, then copy the second half and paste it with the first line in the web browser, then hit go or enter!

The Game Links are...

First, I am going to list a couple of kids color page and craft links.

http://www.onawhim.us/kidszone_nonflash.html (my old site) http://ivyjoy.com/coloring/coloringlinks.html (incredible listing of kids coloring page websites) http://www.coloring.ws/coloring.html
http://www.sitesforparents.com/index3.html (more links to great websites)
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/ http://www.make-stuff.com/ (cool site) http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/ (one of my all time favorite websites :)

Next is a list of online game sites that I have found on the internet. Many of these sites have games for 3-5 year olds. You'll need to go through and see if they fit your needs. My kids favorites are first. They are ages 5 and 3.

http://www.cogcon.com/gamegoo/gooey.html
http://www.prongo.com/
http://www.unclefred.com/ (Drawing with Uncle Fred)
http://www.kidsdomain.com/games/ (lots of games fun and educational)
http://www.juliasrainbowcorner.com/
http://www.funbrain.com/
http://pbskids.org/
http://www.uptoten.com/
http://www.nickjr.com
http://kids.f9.net.uk/flash/games.html
http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/ (These games are probably too old and might have shooting but we love this site! The guy that creates this is a wonderful artist!)

More gaming places but we usually stick with the top list.

http://www.crayola.com/kids/games/console.cfm?game=&ok=true
http://www.kidsplanet.org/games/ http://tcm.childrensmuseum.org/bones/kids_mazeGame.htm
http://www.nwf.org/kidzone/kzPage.cfm?siteId=3&departmentId=77
http://www.dressupgames.com/kidmisc.html
http://disney.go.com/games/today/index.html
http://www.kidspsych.org/index2.html
http://akidsheart.com/holidays/christms/chgames.htm (online Christmas
Games)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/games/index.shtml
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/
http://www.edu4kids.com/ http://www.globalgang.org.uk/games/index.htm

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/games.htm
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/kids/games.htm
http://www.factmonster.com/ http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/0,17446,,00.html
http://www.cyberkids.com/
http://www.syvum.com/online/ http://www.fbi.gov/kids/games/games.htm (FBI
kids)
http://www.fema.gov/kids/games.htm (FEMA kids) http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/geogame/ (Discovery School)
http://www.mysterynet.com/ (mystery games) http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chgames.html (Brain Games)
http://www.literacycenter.net/parents_teacher/letter_center.htm (literary games...letter recognition)
http://www.edbydesign.com/automath.html (Math
Games)
http://kidshub.org/kids/kids.cfm
http://www.lego.com/eng/play/games/ (Lego Land)
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/ (World Almanac)
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/games.htm (interesting games)
http://www.coolmath.com/ (Cool Math)
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/kids/cycle.html (EPA water cycle)
http://www.carmensandiego.com/ (Carmen San Diego)
http://ecokids.earthday.ca/pub/splash.cfm (ECO Kids)
http://www.spacekids.com/playanddo/playanddo/ (Space Kids)
http://www.brainpop.com/ (Brain Pop - Cool Stuff)
http://www.JuliasRainbowCorner.com
http://www.mentaljokes.com/cube.html (Brain Games)
http://www.iknowthat.com/com?COOK= (might not be free?)
http://www.sodaplay.com/

Here are a couple of places to find free games or game demos to download. You'll need to search through the games to find some to suit your kids.

http://www.kidsdomain.com/down/
http://www.microsoft.com/kids/freestuff/default.htm
http://www.free-games.com.au/Free_Kids_Games/
http://game.downloadatoz.com/roxies-reading-fish/
http://www.webfreebees.net/kidslinksinc/kids-games.html

Hope this helps.  If it doesn't please let me know!
Thanks,
Candace