Annotated List of New Great Web Sites for Kids

The Great Web Sites for Kids committee has selected 19 sites as a 2009 Great Web Site for Kids. These sites have been added to the Great Web Sites for Kids page. See the annotated list below, or go to the website: http://www.ala.org/greatsites.

Great Web Sites for Kids are those considered the best web sites for ages birth to 14, outstanding in both content and conception. As applied to web sites for young people, “great” should be thought to include sites of especially commendable quality, sites that reflect and encourage young people’s interests in exemplary ways.

Sincerely,

Meagan Albright & Sharon Haupt
co-chairs of the 2009 Great Web Sites for Kids committee

Annotated List of New Great Web Sites for Kids – Spring 2009

Building Big
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/index.html
Explore large structures and what it takes to build them with BUILDING BIGâ„¢, a five-part PBS television series and Web site from WGBH Boston. BUILDING BIG explores the history behind some of the world’s greatest feats of engineering and the ingenuity of the engineers, architects, and builders who designed and built them.

DogEared
http://www.kidsblogs.nationalgeographic.com/dogeared/
An online book club: DogEared is a blog ALL about books. Good books, funny books, adventure books. Books about animals, friendship, pirates, faraway places… Books about, almost EVERYTHING!

First Palette
http://www.firstpalette.com/
First Palette is an art site with ideas for educators and parents who share an enthusiasm for art, who recognize the value of doing meaningful and fun activities together with kids, and who have a passion for nurturing creativity and the love for learning.

Giggle Poetry
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/index.aspx
The self proclaimed number one fun poetry site for kids on the web! Learn to write poetry, create poems online, and read and rate hundreds of poems. Teacher resources available.

Great Group Games
http://www.greatgroupgames.com
Your ultimate game group resource for free and fun youth party games, icebreakers, outdoor games, and more! Searchable by size of group, age of group, playing area, and type of occasion.

Imagination Café — Feed Your Mind!
http://www.imagination-cafe.com
Imagination Café is safe, fun, education and entertainment site for kids and tweens with quizzes, recipes and articles on careers, animals, history, sports, science, and more!

Jack Prelutsky
http://www.jackprelutsky.com
Explore the wacky and inventive poetry of Jack Prelutsky, the first Children’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.

Jean Marzollo
www.jeanmarzollo.com
List of Jean’s books online as well as paper format. Preschoolers can enjoy listening to a book read to them as they view works and illustrations. Short and Long bio of Jean.

Journey North
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
Global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. Engaging stories, photos, videos and slide shows from the natural world. Viewers can read, view, track, graph, analize, view migration maps, sightings, and read the latest news on our ever changing natural world

Kaboose: Where Family Comes First
http://funschool.kaboose.com
Lots of arcade-style games to play online and coloring pages to print out.

Kokone
http://www.kokone.com.mx/
A wealth of activities, games, stories, and recipes, as well as information about Mexico, ecology, and the solar system. Una sobreabundancia de actividades tales como juegos, cuentos y rectetas, también informacií³n tocante México, la ecologí­a y el sistema solar.

Mr. Schlytter’s Mathematics Site
http://classrooms.tacoma.k12.wa.us/stadium/eschlytter/index.php
Mr. Schlytter, math teacher at Stadium High School in Tacoma, WA, shares links to his favorite algebra, geometry and graphing sites. Don’t miss the links to the Jeopardy-style math review pages.

Mrs. P
www.MrsP.com
Kids can listen in as Mrs. P (played by Kathy Kinney) reads aloud classic children’s stories. The site also contains interactive games and activities. Requires a high-speed Internet connection.

Read Kiddo Read
http://www.readkiddoread.com/home
An authoritative resource for finding the best, current literature for children of all ages. It includes summaries, read-alikes, reviews, and links to related activities. Find the books with links to Library Finder and various booksellers. Join the newsletter and the ReadKiddoRead Community to access author interviews, blogs, lesson plans, and more!

Scholastic News Online
www.scholastic.com/news
Today’s news headlines in a kid-friendly format. Kids will experience the news from a variety of angles with articles, videos, book reviews, surveys, newsfeeds, and podcasts. The Kids Press Corps are real kids conducting interviews, reporting, and maintaining the blog. The site includes interactive games about current events, geography, newsmakers, and more.

Science New for Kids
www.sciencenewsforkids.org
A collection of the latest science news articles from around the globe.

The Lorax Project
http://lorax.conservation.org/
This site raises awareness of environmental issues and helps children to take action to conserve forests and species.

Wildlife Film Maker
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/filmmaker.html
The National Geographic Wildlife Filmmaker allows kids to make animal movies using short clips of a wide variety of animals. With a simple drag-and-drop interface, they can add animal sounds, music and captions. Once a masterpiece is completed, it can be saved on the site to share with family and friends or e-mailed directly to them.

Spatulatta
www.spatulatta.com
Spatulatta.com presents kids with beginning cooking tips and recipes while encouraging them to eat well and to understand the connection between farms and the dinner table. The site also encourages kids to ask family members for recipes they can cook together.