The Best Online Toddler Games Ever

SesameStreet.org

For nearly 40 years, Sesame Street has served children's best interests, combining education and entertainment through a research-based curriculum, featuring a multicultural cast, and giving kids honest answers to tough questions. Besides teaching letters and numbers, Sesame Street fosters imagination, builds social skills, and models respect for people's differences, whether they're based in race, gender, ethnicity, googly eyes, or neon fur.

UpToTen.com

UpToTen has been building prize-winning early-learning games and activities since 1999. Your child will love the reassuring, friendly world that our unique games inhabit. S/he will have enormous fun whilst building independence on the computer.

Starfall.com

Starfall's ABC section teaches letter-sound relationships by providing a kid-friendly navigation system that explicitly focuses on each letter of the alphabet. When learning to read, students who understand the basic sounds of the language can apply letter-sound relations with greater ease.

PBSkids.org

A safe place for kids to explore and play hundreds of fun educational games with their favorite PBS KIDS characters. PBS KIDS is the place for shows like Clifford, Dragon Tales, Sesame Street, Barney and Teletubbies.

www.bbc.co.uk

CBeebies is the BBC's offering for young children, featuring new and repeated high-quality, largely UK-produced content to educate and entertain our youngest audiences. We produce a mixed-genre portfolio of pre-school and early-school content encouraging learning through play for both girls and boys aged six years and under across our television, radio and online platforms.

Neither computers nor television are evil. But as with TV, there is a right -- and a wrong -- way to introduce the computer to your toddler. Key to helping your child get the most out of computers is limiting the amount of time you spend in front of the screen and making it an experience you share. See expert tips below.

Hold off until your child is at least nine months to a year old

Children younger than nine months don't have the physical skills to interact with the computer. Their vision isn't developed enough to clearly focus on the screen until they're about six months old. And most children also need to be able to sit up by themselves to enjoy staring at a screen while you work the mouse. Sitting up without any support usually doesn't happen until around six to eight months. Young babies also don't have the attention span necessary to follow what's happening on the screen.

Start when your child shows an interest

Computer use is not an activity worth forcing. Wait for your child to show some curiosity. Is she interested in your machine? Does she pound on the keyboard? Does she watch you when you're working or surfing? If she seems responsive - smiling, laughing, clapping - go for it. If not, let it go. And don't worry that she'll lose any ground as a computer whizzkid. A lesson or two in school, and she'll soon know how to work a mouse with the best of them.

Make computer time shared time

Share the computer experience with your child as a friend, fellow audience member and guide. That way, you'll be there to draw your child out, just as you do when reading a book. (So, what colour is Elmo's fur? How come Daisy is feeling sad?) This helps a child build vocabulary and memory skills - and share some time with Mum or Dad. And, starting at age two or so, when your child starts asking questions (Why is Peter Rabbit wearing a coat?), you'll be there to answer them, which is a crucial part of a child's coming to understand his world.

Choose activities designed for very young children

Many games and CD-ROMS are too fast, too loud and too confusing for a young child's brain to absorb - and they can be frightening. It's best to stick with games developed for children under three. And if you start out with Mario Brothers, there's no going back to Teletubbies.

Make fun and computer exposure your goal, not academic learning

Ideally, a tot under three will view the computer as another toy at his disposal and not a task master. There's no point in drilling a one-year-old on the alphabet or addition and subtraction. Instead, go for software that reinforces reading and math readiness skills, which can include listening comprehension, cause-and-effect, opposites such as big and small, and colour and shape recognition. Even then, you'll maintain your child's enthusiasm for learning and computers if skill-building is incidental to a good story, song or game.

Limit screen time

Thirty-minute sessions are plenty for one- to two-year-olds, most of whom will lose interest if you push it further. By the time your child is three or four, you can work up to as much as an hour a day (total) if your child wants to continue, but stop earlier if he doesn't. More than that will eat into the time available for other critical development tasks such as eating, sleeping, playing, dancing and talking with adults and other children. Whenever you play on the computer with your child, watch for signs of fatigue - if he stops looking at the screen and starts fidgeting, getting sleepy or crying, it's time to stop.

Select activities with big, easy-to-see images

One to three images per screen is a good guideline, especially for kids around one. When the image gets more complicated - a street scene with lots of characters, for example - a young child just can't comprehend it. At this developmental stage, zany, complicated drawings are too chaotic for your child's developing brain. But as his visual skills build, you can choose activities with more complicated pictures. By three your child may be ready for big scenes.

Choose activities with simple songs

From birth, babies enjoy songs and music with a steady rhythm and sing-song tone. The repetition of songs such as "Old MacDonald," for example, helps one-year-olds establish patterns and start to anticipate what will come next. If you've got an 18-month-old, have fun with the sound of bells, whistles or clocks - toddlers that age really respond to them. But pass on software and websites with frantic noises or loud rock music. The random rhythm is confusing and even startling to very young ears.

Save storylines until your child is at least two

Short stories on the computer can complement reading aloud to your child. You can slowly work up to longer stories to increase your child's listening comprehension and attention span. But save the fairy tales and involved adventure software for older children, starting somewhere around age two. Younger children can't follow plots and might get frustrated.

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