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A friend of mine's three-year-old son can turn on a computer, direct the internet browser to YouTube and search for funny video clips. When I learned this I thought, "there's no way." But it's amazing what kids are capable of. These so-called digital natives never knew of a world without computers, cell phones, or the internet. I read about a couple who develop iPhone games for kids, and use their three-year-old as the guinea pig. Parents often rely on their kids to show them how this stuff works, leaving them wondering how they're supposed to, well, be the parents here. We wanted to find out how parents can encourage their kids' use of technology without losing control. So we called up two experts in the field. First, Warren Buckleitner, editor of Children's Technology Review, and author of a recent study on young children's tech habits, and Lisa Guernsey, senior policy analyst at New America Foundation, and author of the 2007 book Into the Minds of Babes.

KidVideos is like Youtube for kids. The contents of the videos are appropriate for kids with precreening and monitoring of comments. Children can watch videos in different categories and share their own online. There even contests on the website that the children can enter. Videos can be shared with the children's family. Children can have fun directing, acting, and producing their own videos and possibly creating their own show!

Just finished a really fun two weeks programming with kids using Scratch. Here are the photos.

Photos from the first programming for kids camp at Mediatech.

Posted by The TEC Center at Erkison Insitute: GeekDad | PBS' Quest to Build a Better Kids' App | GeekDad | Wired.com

Tate Kids allows children to create artwork, games, videos, etc.

Librarians are often a great source for information. Here are websites they recommend for kids, on various topics. (I enjoy reading content for children sometimes, to help me better understand certain concepts in science, etc. as it is understandable and often simpler/quicker and in a form that makes it easier to share with young children.)

This has a nice collection of kid-friendly videos of animals - which is mostly what I'm looking for on youtube w/ my kids.

This is a very simple website, probably better for older kids because site does not provide detailed instructions. Also relies a lot on author/kids own creativity and story formation. Good tool for creating different types of creative writing assignments. Have to be careful because also includes links to make you own cigarette boxes, which led me to believe the site is not highly monitored and kids may be able to access other inappropriate websites.

Many opportunities for students to create and interact with art. From abstracts to collages, students will definitely find ways to unleash their creativity.

Simple program for creating animated drawings - appropriate for early elementary and older.

You know, it's OK, but it's pretty basic and it has very seductive in-program ads with graphics which are likely to get kids to click.

A kid oriented, free web browser, search engine, w/ extras. Free, but w/ membership options. For parents worried about their kids safety on the internet this might be a nice option.