Looking for fun and educational websites for kids? The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), which is a division of the American Library Association, just launched a fantastic, newly-designed resource: Great Websites for Kids. 

The site compiles exemplary websites geared to children from birth to age 14 and are selected by a committee of librarians from around the country. To help narrow down the many choices and select only the best of the best, the committee uses the following guidelines (adapted from the Great Websites for Kids Selection Criteria): 

How to Tell if You Are Looking at a Great Website

• Author/Sponsorship: Who Put Up the Site?
• Purpose: Every Site Has a Reason for Being There.
• Design and Stability: A Great Site Has Personality and Strength of Character.
• Content: A Great Site Shares Meaningful and Useful Content that Educates, Informs, or Entertains.

If you spent your summer NOT doing research and are noticing that your internet research skills could use some work, Google is here to help! 

A Google a Day is a "game" (depending on your definition of fun, of course) where a new question is presented each day and your job is to use your online searching skills to find the answer.  Some of the questions are really tough, some are a little easier, but they all require you to think, and search, creatively. 

Here is the question from Friday, September 2:

"The war that gave us the phrase 'Theirs not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die' also gave the world a nurse credited with starting professional nursing.  What was her name?"

Do YOU know the answer?

Attention Parents and Kids......

Did you know that you can borrow children's ebooks from Darien Library on your iPad with just a quick app download and a few taps? 

Bring your iPad into the Library and lets us show you how.  We can load your device with great picture books, easy readers, and fiction for kids.   

photo courtesy of Flickr user flickingerbrad

Hey kids, have you seen the new virtual world, multi-player online game (MMOG) called Monkey Quest just released by Nikelodeon?? It's great! You can create your own monkey avatar, explore all sorts of locations and interact with other characters as you unlockl the secrets of the lost Monkey King on the mysterious island of Ook. Mokey Quest is free to play, but if you want the enhanced features (secret access to areas and activities) then you've got to pay to play. It looks like a console game, but is web-based and kids actually participated in the creation of the game!

Rated E for Everyone

The iKids have been busy honing their tech skills in this weekly registered class. For every first session our techy tweens make avatars for their very own Darien Library accounts. Check out these kid-friendly websites where you can design an avatar.

Build Your Wild Self 

Mii Creator

ArtisanCam

On ArtisanCam kids can explore the work of contemporary artist Julian Opie. Once the portrait is created it can be included in the online gallery.  

Registration for the next iKids session begins Monday, February 28.

Kids, even the very young ones, are already familiar with a lot of kid-friendly sites, like NickJr.com and PBSkids.org, but there are a couple of sites for little ones that grown-ups may not know about. 

One is Kerpoof, a site that encourages kids' creativity.  They can draw, put together storybooks by selecting a background and dragging-and-dropping picture elements, and even a crazy cool "Spell a Picture" activity.  Kids choose a background, then use the keyboard to spell the names of animals or objects, whose images appear on the screen to be added to the picture.  A game that encourages artistic creaticity AND keyboarding and spelling skills, everybody wins!

The other site is Boowa and Kwala, which features what look like a cat and a koala and is appealingly wacky.  The two friends have a site full of songs, games, crafts, and even a terrific My First Clicks section that introduces young users to different parts of the computer and important computer skills.  The 818 games are divided into easy-to-understand groups, like "Sorting Things" and "Mazes".  There are hours and hours worth of fun on this site and it is well worth exploring.

Getting kids excited about reading is all about find that "just right" book. 

The Children's Librarians LOVE to help kids and parents find great new books to read.  You can stop in anytime for a personal consultation.  You can also check out our Online Booklists. 

Looking for even more book recommendations? 

Here are a bunch of great book websites for kids:

Which book is missing from the series? :-) Picture by awinn233

Question:  Every wondered what book 26 is in the Geronimo Stilton series? 

Answer:  The Mummy with No Name

An easy place to find the answer is right here. 

A library in Missouri has organized tons of series!  It's pretty awesome; it contains over 29,000 children's books.

You can also use the database Novelist.  Find children's books similar to other books, their descriptions, and reviews of them too.  Have your library card handy.

Getting kids excited about reading is all about find that "just right" book. 

The Children's Librarians LOVE to help kids and parents find great new books to read.  You can stop in anytime for a personal consultation.  You can also check out our Online Booklists. 

Looking for even more book recommendations? 

Here are a bunch of great book websites for kids:

With the snow storm expected, we hope you've got some reading, games and activities ready to keep you busy indoors where it is nice and warm!  This cool site, Snow Days, allows you to create and share your own unique snowflakes with the world.  You can even respond to other people's flakes and comments! No two flakes are alike, that's for sure.  You can even find out if other folks in Connecticut are creating flakes in the Find-a-Flake search.  When you're all done playing on this site, maybe you'll be inspired to make some old fashioned paper flakes to decorate your room!  Stay warm, kids!