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http://www.usaweekend.com/10_issues/100110/100110parent-great-websites.html
Issue Date: January 10, 2010
Paul Wisenthal
These artistic sites are fun, safe and free. Explore them with your children to get your creative juices flowing.
1) Draw and design. Shidonni lets kids draw animals online, give them names and design backgrounds for imaginary worlds. Winner of 2009 Parents' Choice Gold Award. Ages 5 to 12; shidonni.com.
We have created Shidonni as a place to nurture kids' creativity and imagination.
We wanted to go one step further from the templates we found online and give a remarkable and personal experience, which allows kids of all ages to express themselves.
The answer was simple! Give any 5 years old a pen and a paper and see them create their own pets, friends, worlds, galaxies and stories.
Shidonni is mimicking just that. In Shidonni, kids get their own online "pen and paper" to sketch animals. The moment they do, their creations come to life ‘virtually’.
Kids can then create worlds for their animals, feed them, play with them and share them with their friends.
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2) Devise games. "Fidgit" is a multiplayer game on PBS' Design Squad site. Kids can also design and build their own games and challenge their friends. Ages 8 to 13; pbskids.org/designsquad/games/fidgit.
The Design Squad Web site is the online companion to the television series airing on PBS Kids. The site targets kids ages 8 and older, and features a mixture of magazine-style articles, interactive features and downloadable content that can be used away from the computer.
Like the show, the goal of the Web site is to give kids a stronger understanding of the connection between engineering and the things we all use in everyday life.
The results of engineering are all around us: from cars to cameras and everything in between. Being an engineer doesn't mean being a "nerd" with a pocket protector. It means being a creative problem solver, an innovative thinker and a team-player. The Pro-File videos offer a quick look at engineers with very different jobs and backgrounds. These clips just might leave you thinking, "Hey, that's cool, I want to do that!"
The Web site offers many examples that contextualize engineering concepts shown in the series, and spurs kids to explore those concepts on their own or with a parent or educator.
Together, the Design Squad television series and Web site equips kids with science and math skills, inspires them and lays the foundation they need to participate in engineering activities later in life.
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A Message From Bill Zimmerman
Dear Friend,
I envisioned MakeBeliefsComix.com as a place for you to come to and have fun by creating your own world of comic strips. My hope is that by giving you a choice of characters with different moods and the chance to write words and thoughts for them, you will tap into your creativity and explore new possibilities. After all, there is no greater force in life than the power of the imagination to free us from our immediate problems and to spur our energies to find solutions to our befuddlements.
MakeBeliefsComix is for people of all ages who like to play and explore. They include, for example, those wanting a few minutes of fun; youngsters and their parents; students and teachers; business executives trying to unwind from the stress of work, and activities directors and social workers who try to help people express their deepest thoughts and feelings. My intent is that you will regard this site as a safe place where you feel empowered to create and to test new ideas and ways to communicate through art and writing.
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4) Program a video. Create movies, music and video games at Scratch, developed by MIT Media Lab members. Ages 8 and up; scratch.mit.edu
Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.
Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create and share Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.
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5) Make music. On Crank It Up!, kids can compose and record multilayered rhythms using pots, pans, wooden spoons and even the computer keyboard to create a masterpiece. All ages; pbskids.org/arthur/games/crankitup.
Welcome to the Parents & Teachers area of the ARTHUR Web site! Here's where grown-ups can learn more about the ARTHUR television series and Web site, and access lots of useful resources and activities. Use the links along the left to explore everything this area has to offer.
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