The Littlest Surfers

By Gail Junion-Metz -- School Library Journal, 12/1/1997

Help! I can't find enough web sites that are simple enough for my toddler.

Help! I can't find enough web sites with activities for preschoolers.

You've probably heard pleas like these from frustrated parents, babysitters, or preschool staff. The good news is that there are many great web sites out there for toddlers and preschoolers, as well as for their parents. The bad news is that there are not a lot of "tot central" sites to help you locate them easily.

Here, then, are some of my favorite sites, each brimming with age-appropriate resources and educational content that parents and librarians can start using today.

"T" Is for Tots
Rolando Merino, a parent, created three wonderfully simple web sites for his young son, Rollie, and put them on the Internet for toddlers worldwide to enjoy.
Merino's These Are the Letters of the Alphabet page contains brightly colored letters, animated illustrations, and simple descriptions kids will understand. His page called The Farm Animals contains delightful animal pictures and simple descriptions that children or their caregivers can read. The Zoo Animals page not only contains animated zoo animals and amusing descriptions, but sound links to go along with them. These pages are appropriate for the very youngest surfers, either alone or with an adult.

It's no surprise that the Sesame Street web site contains great material for toddlers and preschoolers. Some of the very best resources on Sesame Street Central are links to the simple online storybooks: "Elmo Minds the Farm," "High Noon," and Forgetful Jones in "Thanks for the Memories." These stories are colorful and fun to read, so consider using an LCD projector or panel and featuring them at an "online storytime."

Sesame Street Central also has lots of web pages especially designed to print out and color. The alphabet, numbers, and shapes pages also include pictures of all the Sesame Street characters.

Connect the Dots
Besides offering previews of its CD-ROM products, Enchanted Learning Software's web site has lots of free, online educational activities for toddlers, preschoolers, and your youngest students.

"Connect-the-Dots" and "Make-a-Truck" are simple, interactive activities that can help toddlers learn to use a mouse and relate to a computer screen image. "Rebus Rhymes: Mother Goose and Others" can help preschoolers learn to associate words with pictures and build their reading skills. "Dinosaur and Bird Jokes" offers wholesome fun for preschoolers and kindergartners. Elsewhere on the site, young children of various ages can use the "Little Explorers Picture Dictionary."

You can find additional toddler and preschooler activities at some sites geared for a wider age range. I listed a number of these sites in two previous columns ("It's Elementary," March 1997, p. 117; and "When Kids Come for Fun," July 1997, p. 38; or www.slj.com/articles/surffor/surfforarchive.asp).

Run Out of Ideas?
Never fear. Connect to World Village's Idea Box and look no further. Updated weekly, it features both a site and idea of the week, along with news of interest to parents, teachers, and librarians.

You'll also find links to lots of printable learning, activity, and coloring pages, as well as recipes, projects, games, crafts, and seasonal activities.

KidSource Online is the place for parents, caregivers, and librarians to go for information about young children. The site's extraordinarily wide range of topics includes education, health, parenting skills, child safety, product recalls, nutrition, child development, toys, and fun.

You'll also find valuable, hard-to-find information in sections called "What's New," "Recent Recalls," and "New Products."

Web Addresses

• Letters of the Alphabet
  http://www.pacificnet.net/~cmoore/alphabet/index.htm
• The Farm Animals
  http://www.magickeys.com/books/farm/index.html
• The Zoo Animals
  http://www.pacificnet.net/~cmoore/zoo/index.htm
• Sesame Street Central
  http://www.ctw.org/sscentral
• Enchanted Learning
  http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/
• World Village's Idea Box
  http://www.worldvillage.com/ideabox/index.html
• KidSource Online
  http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/pages/toddlers.html http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/pages/preschoolers.html