Web pages for children - inspiration?
Part of my site is directed at children from the ages of 7 - 16.
Can anyone inspire me with links to great sites with aspects that would appeal to children?
I've been looking at sites such as JK Rowling's for something a bit quirky that I can add to the content that has to be there, but something that would appeal rather than patronise!
Any thoughts/Links for me?
Megan posted this at 12:56 — 4th October 2006.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
That would be a tough age range because anything the 7 year olds would think is neat the 16 year olds would think is totally lame. What is the site about??
One thing to keep in mind is that kids don't have very good reading and research skills so the site has to be really simple to use. Not a lot of text, and written at a grade level they can understand.
I think Roo (another member here) has some sites for kids - she might have some advice for you
Megan
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Derek posted this at 16:18 — 4th October 2006.
He has: 16 posts
Joined: Jul 2006
The large age range doesn't really matter as it is mostly split into chunks appropriate for a particular age - its a holiday related site and we only offer certain things to certain groups. Not all of the site is going to appeal to kids - but for the area that does - we want it to have a livelier feel than the rest of the site. I'm fully aware of the differences between the ages, I just want some suggestions that fit in with
anypart of that range!What I was looking for was some examples of sites with quirky add-ons that might appeal to kids (of any age).
The old and nasty version of the site has a surprisingly active forum community - before working here I would have believed that kids would have higher expectations than they seem to - the current forum really doesn't work - yet hundreds of them use it every week! In the new version I just want to give them a real reason to keep coming back.
D
Megan posted this at 17:50 — 4th October 2006.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
So are you selling something or is it information or entertainment or what?
You might want to read this article about usability for teens. It basically refutes the perception that teens are technology whizzes and love spangly graphics and stuff. There are some ideas under the "No Boring Sites" heading further down.
Sorry I don't have more concrete examples
It is quite obvious that teens love the social networking thing so tying into that somehow could be a good idea. It's hard to give good suggestions when we don't know what the context is 
Megan
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teammatt3 posted this at 20:19 — 4th October 2006.
He has: 2,102 posts
Joined: Sep 2003
Have you tried coolhomepages.com? They have a kids section, you might want to see what's in there.
Roo posted this at 00:44 — 5th October 2006.
She has: 840 posts
Joined: Apr 1999
I have some Kid pages....I did a quirky add on with java tunnel applets (I create the images and use Anfy software)....just something nifty to watch......
The online coloring book, word search, and Drag and Drop Spelling was done with Swishmax, and the downloadable Multiplication program was done with Multimedia Builder by Mediachance.
It's the KidsWeb link in my signature.
Roo
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