Hi! It’s Saturday, October 8, 2011 and time for Electives at ClickSchooling!
Recommended Website:
Poisson Rouge
Age Range: PreK-10 and beyond (with parental guidance)
This is an ingenious website that helps children (and their families) explore online games and activities that teach about art, music, and languages including French, English, and a little Spanish as well!
This educational website for young children is unlike anything I’ve seen on the Internet. There are no instructions or explanations because the designers believe that it gets in the way of the experience. As explained on the site:
“Most people, even adults, do not read instructions, children who cannot read will ignore written text anyhow…the navigation through the various sections of the site is purposefully simple and intuitive…there is no right or wrong way of using anything on this site.
It’s up to the children to find what they want and to grow their naturally exploring mind. We found that what they don’t discover straight away, they’ll find later, what they don’t know how to do at first, they’ll learn when they are ready and, as many of you know and/or have found out, that is extremely powerful and confidence building.”
That said, the website designers discovered that adults were quite confused by the absence of text so a quick “User Guide” to all the games, activities and animations on the site are provided “for adults only!”
When you get to the site, you’ll see a colorful, animated illustration of a child’s room. Just click on the objects to reveal activities and games that teach about concepts such as:
- French, English, and Spanish Alphabet
- Numbers
- Shapes
- Art
- Music
- School of French
- School of English
- Optical Illusions
You’ll also find Mix-and-match and drag-and-drop puzzles, coloring pages, concentration games, jigsaw puzzles, and dot-to-dots.
You really have to experience it to understand how much learning content is available – so allow plenty of time to explore the site when you visit.
Another great feature? This site is commercial free – so you don’t have to worry about random advertising. They do have a store where you can purchase CD-ROMs, notebooks, t-shirts, and more – but you don’t have to purchase a thing to access over 200 entertaining and educational activities.
