WestIslandKids.com

If done right, a web application can be a great tool for helping children to learn. There’s a great site that has a well designed interactive program that young children will love. The website uses a child’s room as its main interface. You can click on the toys in the room and discover what they can do.

Here are a few examples:

• Put jigsaw puzzles together
• Explore a coral reef in a submarine
• Use a telescope to learn about constellations
• Compose your own music
• Conduct a chorus of singers
• Learn the alphabet in French, English and Spanish
• Practice counting

Just be aware that there are no instructions. This is meant to be an exploratory environment. The idea of the site is to try things, figure out what needs to be done and have hours of enjoyment discovering what you can do.

Give the site a try by going to Poisson Rouge.

Do you know of any other sites that are great for children? Share your experience by leaving a comment.

A Guide To Choosing Safe Toys For Your Children

This last year has focused a lot of attention on toy safety, particularly lead paint problems in children’s toys. Recall after recall has created great concerns and confusion among parents. Which toys are safe? How can I tell? Which toys have been recalled?

There’s a useful website that has done a lot of the work for you and organized the information to help you answer these questions. Healthy Toys has tested over 1200 toys and categorized the results. Tests were performed on a variety of substances including lead, chlorine, cadmium, arsenic and mercury. A description of the possible health effects is included.

You can search the database by toy name, by brand ( the database covers over 200 companies including Baby Einstein, Disney, Crayola, Fisher-Price, Mega Bloks and Tonka ) or by type (ie. dolls, bath toys, jewelry, squeeze toys, trains, etc.).

Inform yourself on this critical issue relating to child safety by going to the Healthy Toys website.