Kindergarten / Full User
Once my oldest was Kindergarten age, I found that she was more challenged by (and interested in) sites and games that develop her reading abilities. I also think that due to the change in schedule that school can be, and their TV or entertainment habits shift, kids of this range maybe changing and maturing to a school age level.
More than ever, you will want your child to enjoy web sites that teach them things, more than just entertain, but the entertaining part is still very important. Remember that no matter what your child is interested in, there is information and quite likely games available to help stimulate, encourage and educate that interest, so search the web and see what you can come up with. It’s important to find games that play to your child’s interest:
Cars – Hot Wheels
Dinosaurs – I don’t know Kizi, but they have a lot of Dino game, PBS Kids has some, too.
Animals – Wild Kratts from PBS
Cooking or Babies – My girl loves Baby Hazel games
Space – National Geographic Space Explorer
Geography – There are several out there about World Geography, even one from PBS Kids’ Postcards from Buster
Fun Strategy games teach hand eye coordination and help kids learn to stick with a task until they are successful:
Little Dino Adventure – use keyboard keys to run and jump to collect coins and avoid pitfalls
Hit or Knit – drag and drop to shoot balls of yarn to hide them so Kitty doesn’t get a new sweater to wear
Balls and Bricks – a break out game that requires dragging and dropping to aim and shoot
Yeti Sensation – use keyboard keys to move Yeti from side to side to avoid obstacles
Stickman Swing – click and drag to help stickman swing through an obstacle course – also Stickman Hook
There are plenty of safe, kid friendly web sites with a minimum of ads. Here are a few:
Starfall.com – Dedicated to teaching children to read (clear winner in my house for a long time). My kids were both reading by 4 years old and I largely credit this site for that happy fact.
CBC– From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Boomerang– Featuring characters and games from Cartoon Network shows, including Bugs Bunny
Seussville – Featuring characters and stories by Dr. Seuss this site is almost more fun for me than my kids, but it does help them develop sentence structure and such. It might be for slightly older children or real Seuss fans
Disney Now – featuring current Disney character based games. It would be more fun without the long ad before each game, though. This is one you might want to preload in its own tab before your child arrives to play, maybe.
PBSkids.org – The PBS shows come to life with gentle games that this skill level can handle, with fun sounds and familiar characters.
When you and your child get bored with these sites, check out more site suggestions below to find more games to play or you can search any engine for ‘free online kindergarten games’.