Karmen of Chaotic Utopia will be posting a comprehensive list of science education web sites for children, and has inspired me to share what's collected in my del.icio.us bookmarks.
Brains Rule! has six Flash games and hands-on activities for young kids. The gold standard Neuroscience for Kids from UW has many games and resources on their acclaimed site; most geared slightly older. The Dana Foundation has Brainy Kids with info and although no animated games, links to many other science kids' sites that have games. Nina and the Neurons is a simple interactive game for the very young. Breaking the Silence has info and lesson plans to do with the science(s) behind mental illness, targeting upper elementary and older. The award-winning There's No Such Thing as Crazy, for the same age group, is even better and teaches clinical CBT skills with Flash games and videos. Sara's Quest is to learn about neuroscience and drugs of abuse. The very cool Mouse Party teaches neurobiology also. But it's not just substances that can be addictive; youths toy with cerebral hypoxia in the choking game. As well, the Society for Neuroscience has a collection of resources for young people with concerns like eating disorders.
Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is a fun and funny ecology/critical thinking site. Related to that, Media Awareness.ca teaches media/web literacy with lots of games for ages 8+ on subjects like cyber-bullying, spammers, hate literature, online safety and privacy, and netiquette. It's a well-designed site with a lesson library for teachers, and parent resources.
The Robotics Alliance Project at NASA has megatons of games, tools, information and inspiration. Here's a list for grades K - 5, with even more on the site for older students and their teachers (robotics course for download). Finally, this isn't designed with kids in mind, but they might be intrigued by the interactive AI floys games at AI Life and other experiments. There's no "AI for Kids" site that I know of, though. Yet.
Got links to more brain sites for kids? Leave a comment. :)
Comments
Check Quintura Kids, works like a child brain - sort of funny, visual and intuitive.
Posted by: Nancy Flocker | July 19, 2007 9:43 AM
I personally am partial to the stratigraphy game the AMNH in New York developed to go along with the IMAX film Dinosaurs Alive!
Posted by: Laelaps | July 20, 2007 2:34 PM