Children's Online Activities III

While Beat busied herself with shopping at the supermarket and playing with monkeys, and Ilena trying to find her way home and getting wet in the sea, I found two more exciting games to share with you guys! Heh! =D

Activity 1: Danger Rangers Hot Potato http://www.dangerrangers.com/KidsClub/flashgames/hotpotato.html

How to play?

Preschooler is required to identify which object between two is fire hazardous. Simple instructions are given by the mouse. Encouragement is given when the child chooses the correct answer.

Evaluation:

Children are often not aware of the dangers around them especially when it comes to fire safety. Thus, this game helps the children to identify the objects that they are supposed to keep away from and be careful of. The objective of this game is realistic and is very close to home. The children could easily identify the pictures and match them with the things they could find at home. Fire safety is never really a concern for young children. However, through this game, it could help them (in a fun way!) be more aware of the dangers are lurking so close if they are not careful. This game is more suitable for the young children below the age of 5 due to the nature of the game.

Activity 2: Spinner’s Comet Cup Racing http://www.nickjr.com/playtime/cats/games/all_games/spin_racing.jhtml

How to play?

Mr Comet lost his twinkles! Preschooler is required to use the cursor to help Mr Comet collect his twinkles back while avoiding danger objects. The aim is to get to the end of the race course with as many twinkles as possible! At the end of the race, the twinkles will lined up together forming a colour pattern with the lights on their heads. Preschooler is required to identify the missing pattern to move on to the next level.


Evaluation:

This game helps children to match and identify similar objects. At the beginning of the game, the child would have been given instructions to avoid certain objects, thus as he play along, he would have to recognise the objects and avoid them. It also encourages the children to recognise patterns.

The race requires the child to move along the cursor, which can be rather tricky. However, this could help perfect his basic skills of using the cursor properly and to navigate around the web browser.

Children could also learn simple patterns concept through this game. It helps them to identify and solve the problem of the missing pattern.

Online Activities for Children II

Help Me Get Home!
From: http://funschool.kaboose.com/preschool/amazing-animals/games/game_animal_homes.html

How to play:
The page will display a number of animals who are out of place. The animals that are not in the correct habitat are shaking. The child is required to move these animals by clicking and dragging them to their correct habitat. When the child places the animal in the right place, it will say thank you. However, if the animal is placed in the wrong area, it will continue shaking and say “too hot”, “too cold”, “too wet”, etc. By clicking on some parts of the background, children can hear the sounds heard in that environment. (eg. Clicking the water produces the sound of waves)

Evaluation:

From this activity, children will learn about animals and their different habitats and why different animals have to live in different places. The game has a very simple concept to it and the child can move each animal multiple times to find out why the animal is not suited to the other habitats. Each habitat is clearly defined by bright colours and the animals are easily spotted as well. When the child finishes, he can reshuffle the animals and play again. This game is appropriate for children from 4-5 years old.

Diego’s underwater adventure
From: http://www.nickjr.com/games/diegos-underwater-adventure.jhtml?path=/games/all-shows/numbers-shapes/all-ages/index.jhtml

How to play:
In this game, Luna has broken into pieces, and Diego has to go on an adventure to look for these pieces. He has to go to four different locations to do so. These four locations have challenges that involve looking for animals and shapes, counting, sorting and riddles.

Evaluation:
This colourful game is very engaging for children aged 4-5. through this game, the child is learning how to identify shapes, colours and numbers. The child also learns about various animals, such as pelicans, sea turtles, jellyfish, stingray, etc. The child is also given opportunity to problem-solve and listen to instructions. This game is easy for the child to play as Diego gives very simple step-by-step instruction and only involves using the mouse to play.

Online Activities For Children I

I was online for children's activities that were educationally fulfilling. Here are two which I feel fit the criteria most aptly!

So I came upon PBS Kids and found the 'Arthur' section that had various children's activities. I recall playing Arthur CD-ROM games through DOS a long time ago. =)

1. Supermarket Adventure
from http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/
Targeted Age Group: 4-5 Years

I went through a few of them and decided to introduce D.W's supermarket game.

How To Play This Game?
This game requires the preschooler to help D.W in her grocery shopping. Clicking on the loud speakers will enable the child to find out what D.W needs. The child will then click, drag and drop the 3 items into the white circles at the bottom of the screen. The child can click on any food item to hear it's name, and on the red arrows to move D.W left or right.

Evaluation
'Supermarket Adventure' is child friendly, having no explicit, vulgar content or violence.

I feel that this game can sustain a child's interest because it is interactive and is visually attractive with it's graphics and bright colours. It also plays on a child's auditory ability and helps a child to listen for instructions. The various sound effects and soothing background music enhances this motive. Besides, physical coordination to drag and drop adds on to the range of abilities a child must utilize in this game. Also, grocery shopping is an event children can relate to. It's realistic relevance to children's lives feeds on a child's knowledge and experiences to be an effective educator.

Each round of 'Supermarket Adventure' ends when D.W purchases the 3 items, making it a repititive game which children can enjoy. The method to play the game is also simple to understand. Therefore the challenge in the game appears in the comprehending and matching the pictures to the listening.

For this range of complexity, 'Supermarket Adventure' is developmentally appropriate for the target age group of 4-5 years.

The site not operates well technically and does not require a lot of loading time. There are no delays in reaction times when clicking, avoiding potential frustration.

2. Juggling George
from http://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/games/#1
Targeted Age Group: 4-5 Years

Later on, I checked out Curious George cause he's a monkey and I adore monkeys; realised that Juggling George was an awesome game to develop a child's listening, counting skills and English language understanding.



How To Play This Game?
The Objective of the game is to select the right number and correct kind of fruits for George to juggle. Children will click on The Man With The Yellow Hat to hear what and how many fruits must be selected, e.g. Pick 4 fruits of any kind, but no oranges for George to juggle. After selecting the fruits, click on George. George will juggle the selected fruits if it matches The Man's criteria.

Evaluation
'Juggling George' is free of steorotyping, demeaning language or unpleasant content. Hence, it is child friendly.

The visual aspects of 'Juggling George' will appeal to children as it's graphics are not only well constructed, but colourful. The function buttons are picture icons, which cause easy interpretion. Furthermore, the sound effects are charismatic and amusing to listen to (George's laughter) amidst the gentle background tune.

This game utilizes a child's counting skills and English language listening comprehension. Children are encouraged to listen to The Man With The Yellow Hat's instructions to accurately select the fruits. The Man asks for a specific number of fruits and states the type of fruits that can be selected. The type of fruits are often not defined. Thus given children an open-ended choice as to which fruits they might prefer. This promotes decision making and independence.

'Juggling George' is also age appropriate as it's complexity reolves around simple and precise instructions. The method of the game is also rather elementary, employing only clicking according to the auditory instructions.

Each round of the game ends when the fruits are chosen correctly and George juggles them. A new round begins with another set of instructions from The Man. However, children will find the repetition comfortable as the instruction will vary constantly.

The site not operates well technically and does not require a lot of loading time. There are no delays in reaction times when clicking, avoiding potential frustration.