How to Choose Educational Websites for Kids: A Parent Checklist

A website that calls itself educational can still show ads, link to other sites, host public comments, or push a paid upgrade. For a child aged 6 to 12, a short review before you approve a site is worth the time. This checklist gives you nine questions to ask, and a way to test the site from your child’s side of the screen.

If you use an approved-site browser, the review also decides what goes on the list. Kidsplorer controls browsing inside Kidsplorer; other browsers and apps need separate controls. Nothing here is a safety certification for any site.

1. Does it require an account?

Check whether the activity works without signing in. If an account is required, find out who creates it (you or the child), what details it asks for, and whether the site offers a parent or teacher account. Fewer personal details is better. Note that a visible sign-in button does not always mean an account is mandatory, so test the actual lesson. Our audit of 60 children’s websites recorded how often a first page showed sign-in or sign-up prompts.

2. Where do the outside links go?

Click the logo, the footer, the “more games” or “related” links, and any advertising. Note whether they open another site, and whether they are easy for a child to hit by accident. A page that sends a young child to other domains is harder to keep within an approved list.

3. Is there user-generated content or chat?

Look for comments, profiles, shared creations, forums, or messaging. Public or semi-public content is written by people you have not reviewed, and it can change at any time. If a service has these features, find out whether they can be turned off for a child account, or choose a different resource for the same skill.

4. What about ads and sponsored content?

Notice whether the page shows advertisements, sponsored items, or promotions for other products. An unlabeled page cannot be assumed to be ad-free, and ads can load differently on each visit. Check more than once, at different times.

5. Does it have built-in search?

A search box can lead a child to material you did not review. Try a few ordinary searches. Ask whether the lesson needs search at all, or whether a curated menu would do.

6. How does the lesson flow, and what else does it load?

Complete one whole lesson. Many sites use separate addresses for sign-in, video, fonts or images, and an activity may stop working if one of them is blocked. If you use an approved list, review each of those addresses on its own rather than approving a wide parent domain just to clear a block. The adding approved sites guide explains how a domain rule works.

7. What do the privacy policy and child-directed statements say?

Find the privacy policy and read the section about children. Look for what is collected, whether it is shared, how long it is kept, and how a parent can ask for deletion. A policy link is a starting point for your review, not proof that the site is safe. Statements that a site is “for children” are the publisher’s own claims, so read the details.

8. What does it cost, and what is upsold?

Check what is free, what is paid, and how upgrade prompts appear to a child. Look for subscription renewals and in-lesson prompts to buy. Decide whether the free version covers the need before you add a paid resource to the plan.

9. Test it as your child before approving

Open the site in a private window and go through it as your child would: no sign-in unless the lesson requires one, a full lesson start to finish, the first few links, the search box, and anything that opens a new tab. Write down any outside address you see. If something surprises you, you have a reason to hold off or ask the publisher.

Keep a short record

Note why each site is on your child’s list, such as “weekly reading assignment”. Review the list at the start of each term and remove anything no longer used. Visited-page addresses are recorded for the parent in Kidsplorer for up to 30 days, which can help you see what a child actually opened.