BeSecureOnline conducted some real research using two 9 years olds and a 7 year old, all girls no boys. We gave them 20 sites to review. Being kids they got bored and soon distracted. Naturally, they didn’t bother looking at all 20 sites and several popular sites listed on well known mums/parenting sites barely registered with them including Disney.com.
Here are some of the favourites:
In view of the above results, BeSecureOnline reviewed each site in order to assess the internet safety and security of each.
It's important to note that some of the sites mentioned above are where children spend literally hours of time. Parental Control software will help you with internet safety for your kids including, internet security, preventing cyber-bullying and blocking age inappropriate content. Additionally, parental control software provides safe search and safe browsing - keeping kids safe online.
One the recommendations we do have is to allow only these sites and a few others that you have personally checked - block the rest. We are proud to say that the antivirus software stocked by BeSecureOnline such as our partner F Secure SAFE enables these controls as standard.
The world’s biggest video site. Kids love it.
Make sure that you have ‘restricted mode’ switched on. If you are using Windows then set up a separate login for kids/Tweens to use. You can’t ignore YouTube so have some rules.
To set up YouTube's "restricted mode" you will need a Gmail or YouTube account.
Please follow our link to view a quick video guide on how to setup YouTube's "restricted mode"
It looks a bit out of date but it's a fun and safe experience for kids. Playground helps parents introduce preschoolers to the Internet. There is lots of educational content and games to get kids onto the net. We checked out some of the games and they are totally age appropriate and well made.
Watch live videos of whales, pandas, lions and educational game. Lots of amusing and interesting facts about animals, wild life and our planet. What is not to like to like about National Geographic.
The Disney-owned operation doesn’t pretend to be an educational one on the Web, but it is fun, friendly, and safe. Children create a penguin alter ego and build an online universe around their penguin. Chat with other penguins. Parents have the option to limit their child’s responses to a set of predetermined answers in Ultimate Safe Chat mode. Generally agreed this is for the younger ones.
It’s mathematics on a higher plain, makes maths cool and exciting again. A genuinely good site used across Britain and Ireland.
Practice, teach, learn and test math skills in a fun environment against an online kid's community of primary school children. This wonderfully beneficial and effective math site does require an annual subscription but it’s worth talking to your school about signing up.
Math, Spelling, Fun Arcade.
Educational and fun, old fashioned looking and too integrated to Amazon for purchasing. Plenty of games ideal for younger visitors. The site is quite commercial for kids.
Not as good as the main site but still better than most of other kids sites - many of which simply mimic the TV show equivalent.
If your child loves Dora the Explorer or Peppa Pig then chances are they will love this website. There are lots of games, colouring pages and activities with all your little ones favourite characters.
This is fun site for Tweens, games are good fun and obviously integrates to the ‘Stars’ and presenters on the TV show as well.
The site is actively maintained and has a nice look and feel to it unlike some of the sites mentioned above.
We reviewed numerous other sites which we have decided not to mention in this article.
Several of them simply have static home pages with little attention to design and aesthetics for kids - some have good content but look too automated and uninteresting.
BeSecureOnline based is based in London and Dublin. We sell the best anti virus and parental control software for online family protection - helping you prevent children from being exposed to cyberbullying and cybercrime.
For more information about the antivirus software and parental control software available from BeSecureOnline, please contact us.
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