Online Gaming For Kids: From Disney and Beyond

Online Gaming For Kids: From Disney and Beyond

The Internet can be a wonderful thing, but for many concerned parents it can be a frightening place to allow their children. While computer skills are a virtual necessity in these times, where can a parent allow their child to go for fun, educational gaming that is still age appropriate? Thankfully, there are a number of online gaming sites for kids, many of them free, for different age and skill levels.

Much of the online gaming for kids is sponsored by various toy companies as well as other child oriented corporations so they will feature popular cartoon and movie characters as well as games that are based on these. While some will dismiss these as nothing more than cheap marketing ploys to sell more products, others will applaud anything that will get a child to sit still long enough to actually learn something. And if a struggling child finally catches on that 2+2=4 from listening to one of Disney's latest characters, or learns some language skills from Dora the Explorer, what is the problem?

Online gaming for kids is usually separated in age groups- but sometimes the age level that they are intended for are not as clearly marked as they should be, so it is a good idea to play along with your child at least for the first few times to see what the game entails, and to make sure that it does not go against any of your own personal tastes and preferences. (Of course, all children should be monitored while online anyway.)

There is virtually no limit to the types of games that are available- from word, to math to reasoning games, the vibrant colors, fun sounds and familiar characters make the child forget that they are learning- which might make these lessons easier for them to grasp. The better the game the more they play a game, the faster they will learn, and the more they will retain. Remember, most children learn through repetition, so frequent playing of these games should be encouraged once they are deemed to be truly educational, and not just labeled that way.

Online gaming for kids may also be beneficial for parents as well, saving them the expense of buying games, game consoles, controllers and other accessories. Many online games available for kids are usually either free or fairly cheap. If there are several similar aged children in the household, a gaming membership might still be the cheaper way to go, but if it is only one child or there is a large gap in ages, free sites will be a better bet. Children's tastes change frequently and they tend to get bored with things fairly quickly, so be sure that the site you go to has a wide variety of games available.