kids

Type the word "education" into Google and the search engine will spit up 690 million results, with top links to a U.S. government site, Wikipedia, the New York Times and Apple Computer.

For PTA types, that much information could be a curse. That's why a Silicon Valley upstart aims to cater to time-pressed parents with a new reference Web site that's all about child-age schooling.

The site, called Education.com, launched in beta Thursday. According to CEO Ron Fortune, the site is designed to be "the WebMD of education" for parents and teachers … Read more

Glaxstar, a software developer that makes plug-ins for Firefox, has crafted a specialized extension for the Web browser that helps parents keep their kids in a safe Web-surfing sandbox.

The software, called Glubble (for global bubble), is essentially a white list, or collection of pre-approved sites, for the Web browser. By downloading the Firefox plug-in, parents can control their kids' experience online by choosing which sites they can visit and with whom they can chat. Designed for children under 12, the browser extension filters out all other sites, and maintains personalized preferences for parents and individual children. It even offers … Read more

Several blogs, including PaidContent, reported today that Sony is in "advanced talks" to buy ClubPenguin a social networking and online game site geared toward kids that was launched in October 2005. The price is reported as in the ballpark of $450 million.

The subscription-based (six dollars per month) ClubPenguin takes the form of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), where children play games, amass virtual goods, and interact with each other, all while participating as penguin avatars. According to PaidContent, the site rakes in about $60 million in revenues and is already profitable despite being fewer than … Read more

When we want children to grasp structures and shapes, we let them play with Legos. When we want them to understand programming, we'll let them play with Scratch, the latest child-oriented program to poke its beak from MIT's prolific Media Lab.

Scratch is a free animation-development program for kids that converts the main elements of programming--like objects, actions, rules, and conditions--into simple blocks you can drag from the menu list and drop into the scripting area. Snap a few of these together, "like Lego bricks," says Scratch mastermind Mitchel Resnick, and you create a script that makes your "sprite" speak, play music, move across the screen, or interact with other sprites.… Read more

Kids now have their own computer programming language, thanks to researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab and at UCLA.

MIT on Tuesday introduced a programming language called Scratch, which is designed for kids age 8 and up to create interactive Web stories, games and animations that can be shared online. Kids have already used the language to write a story about a polar bear school and to create an outer-space attack game.

MIT compared the programming language, which lets kids snap together graphical blocks to build a Web site, to the simplicity of Lego "bricks." (… Read more

Throw away those beanie babies; they are old news. There is a new sheriff in munchkin town.

Webkinz.com is a Web site children can join and interact in an online society while adopting a physical representation of the pet. The catch is that a Webkinz stuffed animal must be purchased first, followed by entering the "secret code" found on an attached tag. The cute plush toys have been quite popular, grossing over $45 million last year for Canadian gift company Ganz, the creators of Webkinz. Like its TY Beanie-Baby predecessor, Webkinz also has a high collection value, … Read more

Only yesterday Crave challenged the industry to make a Webcam that didn't look creepy--in particular, we were advocating a "Bubble Head" prototype that had yet to find its way to the market (or so we thought). Lo and behold, nary a day later we see the "USB Happy Kid Webcam" that could be the Bubble Head's long-lost cousin.

Like Bubble, the Kid is flexible with a Cyclops-style lens on its head so it can be posed in a variety of positions. Ubergizmo, which shared our affection for the cheery little guys, notes the Kid … Read more

Gone are the days of the old-fashioned lock-and-key diary. Kids should have some privacy rights too, especially where nosy siblings are concerned. So even though this item isn't brand-new, Crave felt that it was timely to cite it in today's era of pervasive household surveillance.

The "Keep Safe Diary" (ages 8 and up) requires a "musical pass code" to open and includes a secret compartment opposite the notepad. It's telling that this item, in addition to the usual retail outlets, is also listed at the Museum Spy Store. Can a biometric version be … Read more

If you don't have small kids, skip this item because it'll probably seem like a waste of money. But if you do, you'll totally understand why it's a good idea. How many times have you or your rug rats ended up with scalded fingers after checking the bath faucet? Same here.

The "Digital Bath Spout Cover" is designed to keep you and your family out of the burn ward by automatically monitoring the water temperature as it rises. Even better, its digital display uses a simple color code ("red means too hot") … Read more