An Ad Free Introduction to the Internet

The Internet can offer an endless variety of fun and educational games to teach both traditional math and language skills, while simultaneously building the mouse and keyboard savvy critical to success in today's world. Locating sites suitable for the Internet's youngest citizens can be tricky. Some sites require that you register and provide personal information about you or your child before gaining access. Others offer high quality learning games, but are heavily supported by advertising. Trying to teach small children who are still learning to move the mouse around not to click on certain eye-grabbers while clicking on others can be difficult.

The variety and nature of the ads on kid sites might also pose a mild shock as well. While certainly not pornographic, many kid targeted websites have clearly adult focused advertising. You are likely to encounter banner ads for tax preparation, weight loss pills and cell phones on gaming and educational sites for young children.

These unusual ads may be the result of the fact that web site advertising is often provided by third-party ad companies. In many cases, the webmaster may not know exactly what ads are being displayed to visitors at any given time. This can result in even the most well intentioned sites accidentally displaying inappropriate ads. Some child focused sites have links to report inappropriate advertising. That's a responsible step, but if you are browsing with your child, they have already seen the questionable content before you can report it. There are however, several sites that are completely friendly to the youngest viewers.

One is maintained by the BBC. The BBC Schools page provides a selection of online games and offline actives grouped by age. Options are further divided by subject. There is a lot more than games on this site. The site also provides a great deal of offline learning material for both parents and teachers. This makes it an especially valuable resource for those home-schooling their children.

PBS Kids also offers quality content for those new to the keyboard. In addition to high quality material for youngsters, they offer something of value to slighter older children getting ready to move on to more general surfing. An area of the site called Don't Buy It is dedicated to helping children understand advertising techniques both on the web and in the world at large. The section of the site can be an excellent place to visit before introducing children to ad-supported educational sites, or the Internet in general.

Another excellent site for young children is GameGoo, produced by Cognitive Concepts . Targeted at reading skills, the site will lead children from basic alphabet skills all the way to more complex topics such as recognizing antonyms. The site uses a great deal of high quality audio. All of the games are simple and engaging and require mousing skills appropriate to the reading level being targeted. As an added bonus, the site's offerings are made available for both broadband and modem users.

Online advertising is not something parents are likely to be able to shield their children from forever. However, it is at least possible to teach children basic computer and Internet skills without distraction.