Internet Safety for Elementary Aged Kids

The Internet is powerful. It has almost anything someone would want to know, do, or see. As our children become more interested in and experienced with computers and using the Internet, we as adults need to help monitor their activity. Here are some tips and safety information for parents with Elementary aged children.

Computers can be a great resource for educational activities and learning. There are many sites for kids that have educational and leisurely games. It's difficult to find websites that are 100% kid friendly with no ads or possible links to other sites. Here a few trusted sites with tons of games and activities.



Crayola has a colorful website
Crayola Crayon Website-Games

If your child loves Arthur they have a great site as well
Arthur Games




PBS Kids has tons of games and printable activities for kids. Your child can pick from many different characters and visit their site to play games and explore much more.
PBS kids game site

PBS also has a site Kids Go! with more games for the next age level
Kids GO!





Here are some simple tips to help keep your kids safe online

• Becoming informed and comfortable about the Internet and the sites your child will be visiting will help you to know what they will be doing and how to use Internet protection and check their activity.
• Use the Internet browser safety settings to block certain material and inappropriate or explicit content.
• Place the computer in a family room or kitchen so you can supervise your child the whole time.
• Bookmark your kids' favorite sites for easy access.
• When your child is researching, sit with them. This way you can correctly spell words and phrases to help find the appropriate information or pictures.
• Create a shared e-mail account that your child and you can use for their online activity. Use this to sign up for games and check regularly to monitor any e-mails sent to them
• Check the computers browser history
• Never reveal personal information such as an address, phone number, or school name or location. The more information you give out the more likely it will be miss handled and seen more freely on the Internet.
• Use only a screen name when creating accounts.
• Never allow children to go into chat rooms and participate. This is the most common place for predators to pose as children. Never agree to meet anyone from a chat room in person.
• Never trade personal photographs in the mail or scanned photographs over the Internet.
• If you allow your child into a chat room even for a game, and they meet a new friend insist on being introduced and see their conversation.
• Take what your child says seriously if they mention about hearing or seeing something uncomfortable or inappropriate. Contact your local Law Enforcement Agency or the FBI if your child has received pornography via the Internet or has been the target of an online sex offender.

Talking to your children right away about Internet safety will help them to be safer online. Make a list of rules and make sure your child knows them. Post them by the computer to remind them. Talking about the dangers of the Internet and to stay away from unknown people and websites will help to protect them. If you go over rules from the very beginning then when they get older and move into Middle and High School were there are more problems with Internet safety, they will understand and cooperate with rules and restrictions you need to place at a later date.

Watch this fun and easy to understand educational video with your kids and discuss Internet saftey with them.

Stress the importance of never giving out any information to anyone!!

Talk to your kids about internet safety! Parents are their best online protection!