Net-Mom's Nice Sites 1999 Best Of The Web For Kids

Market Wire, 20050229

Jean Armour Polly, also known as Net-mom, announces the "Net-mom Nice Sites 1999 Best of the Web for Kids Awards." Based on her extensive research for the Millennium Edition of The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages (Osborne McGraw-Hill, c. 2000, ISBN 0-07-212185-8) Polly has personally reviewed thousands of Web sites.

Although Polly's current edition features 4,600 selected Internet resources, some stand out as worthy of special attention. "By inaugurating the Net-mom Nice Sites Awards we hope to draw attention to these excellent examples of what's 'right' with the Internet." Polly says.

For more information, please visit the Net-mom Home Page at http://www.netmom.com/

Most Kid-friendly Search Tool Best General Information/Emergency Reference SiteBest Science Exploration Site Best Topic-specific Science Site Best Art Site for Kids Best General Kids Theme Park/destination Best Place to Chat Best Games or Interactive SiteBest Math Site Best Health or Medicine Site Best Site for Preschoolers Best Language Arts SiteBest Music Site Best Sports Site Most Likely to Be Banned from Class The Net-mom Hall Of Fame

==============================================================Most Kid-friendly Search Tool ==============================================================

**Ask Jeeves for Kids http://www.ajkids.com/

Why doesn't someone invent a kid-safe search engine that lets you type in a real question rather than all those plusses and minuses and quotes and other weird terms? So that you could just type in "I want information on the SuperSoaker 3000" and you'd get back just a few targeted sites, not 23,000 choices! And if you weren't the World's Greatest Speller, the search engine would check the spelling of your question, too. You could type in "I need a map of Arizonia" and it would ask you if you really wanted Arizona. Why doesn't someone invent a search tool like that? Guess what, someone did. Why not go and Ask Jeeves?

Runner up is KidsClick! http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/

============================================================== General Information/Emergency Reference Site ==============================================================

Information Please Kids Almanac http://kids.infoplease.com/

This is great! We typed in "longest river" and up came a list starting with the Nile, about 4,180 miles in length. Then we tried typing "Michael Jordan birthday." BAM! He was born February 17, 1963. You can build your vocabulary with Word of the Day and find out whose birthday is celebrated today. Don't miss this site!

Runner up is LibrarySpot http://www.libraryspot.com/

============================================================== Science Exploration Site (good for rainy days) ==============================================================

**Exploratorium you know what makes a fruit fly grow legs out of its head? How would you like to take a "light walk" and explore the world of shadows? The Exploratorium, in San Francisco, California, is a huge hands-on science laboratory for kids of all ages. Discover the many interesting wonders that they have ported to the Web!

Runners up: Science Odyssey http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/

How Stuff Works http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Thinking Fountain http://www.smm.org/sln/tf/nav/tfatoz.html

============================================================== Topic-specific Science Site ==============================================================

**Space Day http://www.spaceday.com/

Every year, Space Day is celebrated on the Thursday prior to the anniversary of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's 1961 challenge to "land a man on the moon and return him to the Earth." There are loads of related online events that day, but the official Web page is fun any time. Try the Night Watchman and see if you can click and drag the constellations to the correct place in the sky (if you've got sound, you'll even hear the crickets!). In The Phaser you'll learn all about the phases of the Moon (hope you know your waxing from your waning gibbous; if not, this site will teach you). And don't forget to send your friends some space postcards to show that you really get around.

Runner Up Journey North http://www.learner.org/jnorth/

============================================================== Art Site for Kids ==============================================================

**Sanford and A Lifetime of Color's Art Education Resources and ArtEdventureshttp://www.sanford-artedventures.com/index.html

It doesn't matter if you're just picking up crayons for the first time, or if you're a portrait painting pro, you will find something of interest at this Web page! Explore color mixing and matching activities and learn how the "mood" of a painting changes if you magically switch to different colors. Learn about proportions and portrait techniques. Little children will enjoy the color wheel game while bigger ones (and adults, too) will be fascinated with chasing down the evil Dr. Gray and his Dechromatizers!

Runners up Artcyclopedia American Century http://whitney.artmuseum.net/