*I will continue to update this page as I learn about new resources. Be sure to check back!
Long before your child takes the plunge into social media, start training them to recognize healthy netiquette, how to stay safe online, and understand what it means to be a good digital citizen.
Online Safety Training Guides and Games for Kids
Stick around and watch these videos with your children to answer questions that come up along the way.
- NetsmartzKids.org – Features cartoon videos and games geared toward kids between the ages of 6 and 10 about
staying safe online.
- PBS Kids Webonauts Academy – Together with your child, help him or her understand what it means to be a digital citizen.
Go through the academy together, playing games and discussing the meaning of web etiquette, personal privacy,
and respect for others. Upon completion of the program, your child earns a Webonauts Academy diploma.
- FBI.gov – Includes games and information for kids from kindergarten through 12th grade about safety, privacy and information about the FBI.
Reliable Resources to Questions about Navigating Social Media, Games, and Apps
- Common Sense Media.org – Excellent resource for parents who are trying to navigate the different social media platforms and get a feel for any red flags. This site also reviews video games and movies.
- Thatsnotcool.com – Resource geared for adolescents who are unsure how to address cyberbullying, gossip and dating problems. Also provides call-out card/text responses for teens who are unsure how to respond to peers who cross their personal boundaries.
- Family Online Safety Institute – An international non-profit that educates and works to build awareness and digital citizenship to help keep kids and families safer online.
- Onguard Online.gov – Managed by the Federal Trade Commission, this government resource provides tips, video and a blog to help kids and families stay safe online.
- Learning Works For Kids.com – Provides rankings and reviews about games, media and apps.
- Uknow.com – Founded by brothers Tim and Steve Woda, uKnow.com provides parents with a menu of tools to monitor their kids’ mobile phone and online behavior. Because kids see the app is installed on their phone, the founders believe that the app will help them self-censor. Products include uKnowkids, uKnowfamily and uKnowID. With uKnowKids, parents can automatically pull all of their child’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram activities, collect text messages, contacts, images, downloaded apps, check-ins and location history. The site’s blog is especially informative.
- GamerDad.com – Andrew Bub, a freelance writer, speaker and an expert on video games and children, posts reviews of movies and games for kids.
- BestBuy.com – In a short video clip, Best Buy offers tips for keeping kids safe online as well as products that can help protect your kids. Thank you to Dakota, the young reader who suggested this resource!
