Best Online Games for Your Little Ones.

I am in awe of my four year old daughter’s capability to use the computer.  She started messing with it at age two, and now at four, she understands how to use the mouse with proficiency, how to scroll, minimize, close, and understands the links and icons.  I have saved some of her favorite sites on the favorites menu and although she does not read, she is able to go to her favorite sites by looking at the graphics.

Here are some of her favorite sites that I too suggest:

Games:

http://www.noggin.com/games/index.php

From the Noggin channel.  I particularly like this one because it has A LOT (from videos, to print out activities, to games).  Many games and videos also encourage your child to get up from the chair and exercise or dance. 

 http://www.agkidzone.com/games.action  *Updated: this link was previously not working. It works now.

This site is for those that love the two classic cartoons, The Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.  They have been modernized on this site however, for your little one.  There are not as many games here as there are on Noggin, but the graphics are nice and bright and the games are fun.

http://pbskids.org/

This site is a great place to start if your child is only beginning to learn the basics of using the mouse.   Even the older kids (8-11) will find something to enjoy if you click on the pbskids Go link located on the right side of the page. 

http://www.qubo.com/games.asp

My daughter liked only some of the games on the site (particularly the Babar games), but I noticed that the fifth graders I worked with last semester really loved this site, so I imagine your older child will too.  I think some of the games might be a bit too difficult for the younger kids (under 5) but the over 6 crowd may enjoy them. 

http://atv.disney.go.com/playhouse/games/index.html

Of course, we couldn’t have a child’s list without including Disney.  There are loads of things to do on this site, your little ones will love seeing their most beloved characters (Mickey, Pooh, Tigger, Goofy) interact with them.

http://www.buildabear.com/buildabearville/#/playground/

Another of my daughter’s absolute favorites.  There are many simple games on here that she loves playing.  Like pbskids.org, this is a good place to start if your child needs practice with the mouse (click, drag-and-drop, scroll).

www.nickjr.com

This site, like Noggin or DisneyPlayhouse, also has a lot of things to look through, but I find it is not very user friendly.  It is organized more-so by shows rather than games, activities, or videos, but it is fine if your child likes to browse through his/her favorite cartoons.  

http://www.cogcon.com/gamegoo/gooey.html

This site is educational! YAY, we all love that.  It is probably best for a child aged 5 and over.  There are different levels of achievement (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), but even the beginner requires some level of letter/word  awareness.

http://www.bigcomfycouch.us/

Another site dedicated to teaching preschoolers.  There are not many games on here, but they are educational and fun so your little ones won’t mind the limited choices.  There are games on letters, shapes, and colors. 

http://www.uptoten.com/kids/uptoten-home.html

This site has loads of games with Boowa and Kwala. They are the cutest characters that your kids will fall in love with.  However, it is a bit difficult to navigate through SO much! This requires a bit of time to look through what is best for your child, but it is really a top notch site.  If you click the Search link you’ll be able to describe a game you may want for your child, or you can choose either a game or educational category and browse.  You can then choose the game that is best for your child’s age.  This site has games for all ages! !
Your first visit – Boowa and Kwala’s favorite games

Those are just a few of a long list of games.  I chose these because they are 1)fun, 2)user-friendly, 3)educational, and 4)FREE! . 

There really are so many wonderful things your child can do and learn with the wonderful computer.  However, remember to limit his/her use of the computer as dirt and sunshine are a necessary component to your child’s growth.  Please monitor your child’s use of the computer, and remember there are now loads of free software you can download to block unwanted websites.  I will draw you up a list of those necessary things to safeguard your children from on-line predators and inappropriate websites in a future blog.

Enjoy.   

Delicious

mmmm. where has apple butter been all my life? i’m not sure why my partner decided to make this purchase, but i am completely grateful that he has.  no fat. (not trans fat, no saturated fat!) and my daughter loves it! she made an apple butter sandwich all by herself.  i love finding foods that are nutritional and my daughter loves.

this is inexpensive. tastes divine with toast and coffee in the morning. (or next to  side of scramble eggs for your little ones)

plus, today for lunch we weren’t too hungry, since we ate a late breakfast.
but mac and cheese never did seem so appetizing! warm and inviting. comfort food at its best.

*october 17th update.

i was craving tostadas but found i had few items in the pantry.  this ‘healthy’ alternative is yum!

a can of Rosita’s refried beans smothered on a tostada

layer it with some broccoli crowns, shredded chicken, sour cream, and avocado slices.

that’s it. yum. (you can make this vegetarian buy just ignoring the shredded chicken) your kids will love this, i find my daughter especially loves the sour cream….(she thinks its linked to vanilla ice cream somehow…okay so maybe i suggested the connection)

delish.

the mexican’t that couldn’t

in college once, while i was standing in line to order a much missed pasta dish, I overheard a joke between two guys.  a white guy and a black guy. me a hispanic, stood in front of them.  so the joke went something like this —-

“what do you get when you cross a black person and a mexican?”

“i don’t know. what?”

“a person too lazy to steal.”

 hardy har har. now. this isn’t a racism blog in the least. the guy telling the joke did so just for a laugh. nothing political about it. it was just a dopey kid telling a joke. anyway. i found it a bit funny. i’m not sure if the other guy did. he just gave a kind of  “ummph”.

but it has always gotten me thinking? are we, oh no, LAZY. and by we, i mean the hispanic population and well yeah, i’ll narrow it down to the mexican population. 

Lazy.

 what a bad bad word! almost like saying you’re criminal, you’re worthless, or god forbid, you’re stupid.  lately though, and i am not trying to clump in all the rest of my mexican or  mexican-american brethren into this, i have been feeling like i’m a lazy person. i’m not sure if someone put it in my head, or if I just came to terms with it, but I feel so, so lazy. i mean so lazy that i’m not even bothering to correct my abundant mechanical or grammar mistakes in this blog. (yes, i over use punctuation marks but i love them.)

Perhaps, I’m just harboring guilt.

I am a stay-at-home mom.

why can’t i say that? why can’t i proudly pronounce that without feeling as though it’s a cop out. 

my brothers and i grew up with my mother.  she raised us. back then, we didn’t know about daycares or nannies or even grandmas (well, we knew our grandmas but they weren’t our caretakers).  my mother sacrificed her opportunity to go to nursing school to look after her brats. my father worked and supported the family. he was more than glad to have my mother care for us.  I didn’t realize how lucky I was to have been able to be raised by my mother, I just thought that was normal.

We have now entered a new generation where everyone questions the fact that I don’t feel comfortable just leaving my daughter’s care into someone else’s hands.  i guess it’s not necessarily the care. i know that there are reputable people and centers that are excellent caretakers, but well, i don’t just want my daughter to be cared for, i want her to be raised. of course, i want her to be raised the way i was and taught the same values and morals that i was. isn’t that the point of family? now, it’s easy to just say ‘well, put her in day care’, ‘well, find someone to care for her’.  and listen. i’m not trying to go into a working mother vs. stay-at-home mother debate here. there are many many many different circumstances in life that force a mother to have to work. i’m not at all blaming anything on working mothers. not at all. (if anyone’s to blame it’s dead beat dads that never deserved the honor of a child in the first place, but that’s another issue).

 all i’m saying is that i don’t want to be labeled as a lazy person because i have decided, at this moment in my life, to spend my days with my daughter.  i don’t have anyone to help me with my child here, (i’ve recently relocated) and i don’t know what the child care system is like here.  i’m sure it is excellent as this is a very family oriented community, but the truth is, i just need a little time to trust this city with the care of my daughter. that is all.

must i apologize?  because after years of working towards my bachelors i am now jobless? i was asked by someone close to me why i even decided to go to college at all if I had no ambition of doing anything.

ambition! as if my life is near the end of its rope. as though i can’t raise my daugher for a few years then ‘DO’ something with my life. as though my life IS nothing at this point. anyway. i should end my blog here. i welcome your comments and experiences, i should probably be doing a job search right about now anyway!