I'm amazed at my kids' abilities on the computer -- with minimal help, my 3-year old can zip through games and his favorite websites with almost intuitive ease. And my 6-year old? He's Google-ing away about koalas or bugs and searching for Ben 10 videos on YouTube, so I typically am glued to the computer with him to make sure his exploring doesn't go from innocent to PG-13 or worse.  For example, in prepping for this review, this morning I searched for "Hannah Montana" on Google -- likely a popular search topic for young girls -- and the 4th result on the page linked to recent "racy" photos of Miley Cyrus, the tween star of Hannah Montana, that popped up on MySpace. Not exactly what I'd want a young girl to come across.

KidZui, a new browser and service designed for 3 - 12 year olds, brings edited versions of the web to users based on age. So, my 3-year old is presented with age appropriate games and videos without lots of text that he can't read, while my 6-year old gets content tailored to his level. 

Using a custom "Zui" (aka avatar), kids can explore and get content recommendations from more than 500,000 sites, pictures and videos reviewed by KidZui's editor panel (made up of parents and teachers). They can even invite friends (with parent approval) to share links and favorites. Parents can login to a web-based account anytime to see what each child has been doing: time spent, search terms and sites visited. Parents can also approve sites not included on KidZui or blacklist sites and categories.

We've been testing KidZui for about a month, and it's become an intergral part of our household.  Not only do I feel secure that my boys are browsing safely, but that they can explore the Internet, similar to how I use it, in a way that encourages learning.

KidZui Browser for Kids - $4.95 / month or $49.95 / year at KidZui.com. To try free for 30 days - click here.

Printed from the Modern Mom website: www.modernmom.com - on December 05, 2008
http://modernmom.com/2059/article/

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