Yahoo! Kids
Encyclopedia
Yahoo! Kids is a public web portal
provided by Yahoo!
to find age appropriate
online content for children between the ages of 6 and 12. The website can be used for both educational and entertainment purposes. It was established in March 1996 by Yahoo!
to give children a venue to find appropriate, safe Internet content. Yahoo! Kids is the oldest online search directory for children.
to provide children with a venue to find appropriate, safe Internet content. The website is the oldest online search directory for children. The website's editors stated that Yahoo! Kids is "cool, goofy, fascinating, fun, hysterical, philosophical, surprising, sedate, silly, seismic, popular, obscure, useful, and interesting". In October 1999, The New York Times
reporter Michelle Slatalla
noted that Yahooligans! was a "heavily trafficked site", with 463,000 visitors accessing the website in August 1999.
In 2004, Yahoo! entered into a partnership with DIC Entertainment
to establish Yahooligans! TV, which gives users access to DIC's 3,000 hours of animated children programs
. DIC Entertainment president Brad Brooks stated that the partnership "offer[s] advertisers a cross platform purchase". Yahoo! sells the ads and the revenue from the commercials is split between the two companies.
The homepage also displays links to games, jokes, news, and sports. For the latter three, the content is crafted for those younger than 12. Games provided on the Yahoo! Kids website include Chinese checkers
, Go Fish
, and Checkers
. Age-appropriate offsite games are also accessible via the links under the "games" tab. The website offers an instant messaging
gadget that allows children to participate in live chats with notable people. Bill Clinton
, J. K. Rowling
, and Bill Nye the Science Guy
have been guests in the chats.
praised Yahooligans! Games, writing that it is "[o]ne of the best spots to find kid-appropriate games that don't require downloads". In a September 1998 review of the website, John Hilvert and Linda Bruce of PC User
wrote that "Yahooligans is one of the best specialized engines, particularly for homework answers."
In July 2007, reviewer Holly Gunn of Teacher Librarian praised Yahoo! Kids for its helpful, comprehensible results but criticized it, writing that it had too many ads and that the "interface is too busy and filled with too many diversions. Useful material is buried amidst entertainment".
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
provided by Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
to find age appropriate
Age appropriate
Age appropriate refers to a developmental concept whereby certain activities may be deemed appropriate or inappropriate to a child's "stage" or level of development....
online content for children between the ages of 6 and 12. The website can be used for both educational and entertainment purposes. It was established in March 1996 by Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
to give children a venue to find appropriate, safe Internet content. Yahoo! Kids is the oldest online search directory for children.
History
Yahoo! Kids, originally known as Yahooligans!, was founded in March 1996 by Yahoo!Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
to provide children with a venue to find appropriate, safe Internet content. The website is the oldest online search directory for children. The website's editors stated that Yahoo! Kids is "cool, goofy, fascinating, fun, hysterical, philosophical, surprising, sedate, silly, seismic, popular, obscure, useful, and interesting". In October 1999, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reporter Michelle Slatalla
Michelle Slatalla
Michelle Slatalla is a RealSimple featured columnist , and author of the books The Town on Beaver Creek. and Masters of Deception: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace ....
noted that Yahooligans! was a "heavily trafficked site", with 463,000 visitors accessing the website in August 1999.
In 2004, Yahoo! entered into a partnership with DIC Entertainment
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...
to establish Yahooligans! TV, which gives users access to DIC's 3,000 hours of animated children programs
Children's television series
Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...
. DIC Entertainment president Brad Brooks stated that the partnership "offer[s] advertisers a cross platform purchase". Yahoo! sells the ads and the revenue from the commercials is split between the two companies.
Content
The website can be used for both educational and entertainment purposes. The Yahoo! Kids' portal has directories such as "Around the World", "Arts & Entertainment", "Computers & Games", "School Bell", "Science & Nature", and "Sports & Recreation". Under the directory "School-Bell", the category "Homework Answers" allows children to access websites pertaining to school subjects such as geography, history, and math.The homepage also displays links to games, jokes, news, and sports. For the latter three, the content is crafted for those younger than 12. Games provided on the Yahoo! Kids website include Chinese checkers
Chinese checkers
Chinese checkers is a board game that can be played by two, three, four, or six people, playing individually or with partners...
, Go Fish
Go Fish
- Basic game :Using a standard 52-card deck, five cards are dealt to each player, or seven if there are four or fewer. The remaining card pack is shared between the players, usually sprawled out in a non-orderly pile referenced as the "ocean" or "pool"....
, and Checkers
English draughts
English draughts or checkers , also called American checkers or straight checkers or in Israel damka, is a form of draughts board game. Unlike international draughts, it is played on an eight by eight squared board with twelve pieces on each side...
. Age-appropriate offsite games are also accessible via the links under the "games" tab. The website offers an instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
gadget that allows children to participate in live chats with notable people. Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
, and Bill Nye the Science Guy
Bill Nye
William Sanford "Bill" Nye , popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American science educator, comedian, television host, actor, mechanical engineer, and scientist...
have been guests in the chats.
Reviews
In June 2005, reviewer Gail Junion-Metz of the School Library JournalSchool Library Journal
The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...
praised Yahooligans! Games, writing that it is "[o]ne of the best spots to find kid-appropriate games that don't require downloads". In a September 1998 review of the website, John Hilvert and Linda Bruce of PC User
PC User
PC User is an Australian general computer magazine, published by Australian Consolidated Press. It was first published in 1990 and is issued monthly. It is Australia's best selling computer magazine, with over 350,000 readers and 60,000 copies sold each month...
wrote that "Yahooligans is one of the best specialized engines, particularly for homework answers."
In July 2007, reviewer Holly Gunn of Teacher Librarian praised Yahoo! Kids for its helpful, comprehensible results but criticized it, writing that it had too many ads and that the "interface is too busy and filled with too many diversions. Useful material is buried amidst entertainment".