Article
Kid-Friendly Search Engines
Kid-friendly search engines are different. They start with websites that are reviewed by software (less reliable) or people (more reliable), including only those sites that are appropriate for most children. Yahoo! Kids (the child-size search engine and website from Yahoo!) is one of the best.
When kids are involved, blocking most of the bad stuff isn’t good enough. That’s when you use a kid-size search engine, like Yahoo! Kids or a kids’ Internet portal that prescreens sites, like KidZui.com. These sites are reviewed by people, not filtered by code. And when younger kids are looking for images for their school report on dolls, they end up with information about toys, not sexy women.
Yahooligans! was the first child-friendly search engine, launched in the early days of the Web. It’s a special service offered by Yahoo!, and has many wonderful categories of sites and services for kids. But it’s more than a miniaturized version of Yahoo!—it has lots of great activities for kids, too, like its downloader page, which has sounds, videos, and pictures. Kids love to use them in their reports and on their websites. Yahoo! Kids also has a random feature that lets children surf random kid-friendly sites.
A kid-friendly search engine is the only way to safely search for kid-friendly images. They are also a great place to start if you’re creating a fun and safe site list for your little sister.