Books Online - Great Resources to Get Your Kids Reading Actively and Passionately

These days, with computers in nearly every home, school, library, and coffee shop, it is relatively easy for anybody to access the internet. An added benefit, especially for students, is the bonus of having books available without having to go out and buy them. With online books students have an opportunity to become interactively involved in writing stories, reading books, and examining literature without having to spend hours in the library searching for what they need. Many of these books can be downloaded for free.

Online Activities For Children

Teachers' resource sites, such as www.eduscape.com offer opportunities for parents to access materials to help their children develop excellent reading and writing skills. Children's online activities are available at this site and many others. www.thekidzpage.com is a great site to obtain online coloring pages for children as well as activities, puzzles, and clip art. Everything is printable, so when you have the kids at home from school and they're bored, print off a few activities that bolster their learning while they do something they enjoy - it's a great way to spend the day. Children's online activities and online coloring pages for children are readily available by checking out some of the sites on Google.

Older children have little problem finding something to do on the internet. However, when the object is to educate them with the things deemed important by the school system, it can be a challenge. BBC has an excellent site for teens, www.bbc.c.uk/schools. On this site, young people can learn about film making, art, writing, fashion, or games, and they can become involved in courses and workshops designed to develop creativity.

Create Your Own Memories - Online

Babies grow quickly, there's no doubt about that. Tracking those precious moments and keeping them forever is something every mother wants to do. Baby books online will give you an opportunity to create your own baby book or journal to which you can add pictures and milestone events. It becomes a keepsake for you. You can create a baby book online and use it as a gift for a newborn as well. www.littlechapters.com and www.babysstory.com are just two of the many sites available for this purpose.

Check Out The Library!

Children love to be read to, and experts agree that reading to your children from the time they are infants instills the magic of learning and the love for reading. Literacy skills are developed with the use of online picture books and visual stimulation.  Children's books on historical fiction and science fiction picture books are among the treasures you'll find online. An excellent resource to obtain access to some of the best children's literature available online is a site that links to several libraries in the US and one in Japan. By clicking on a specific library, you have the ability to peruse the shelves of children's books in these outstanding collections. 

Whodunnit?

Children love mysteries. They provide fun, entertainment and they are also excellent tools to teach critical thinking, problem solving, writing, and literature. Series such as Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys along with children's versions of the great classics of Edgar Allen Poe and others await your child. Online mystery stories for children are a good way to engage your children in reading time proven children's classic literature while exciting their minds with adventure and challenge.

In Another Tongue

In our multicultural world, it's interesting and fun to explore other cultures, or to teach your children about their own culture. Living in the US, it may be difficult to find a large selection of Italian or Japanese children's books in hardcover. That's where the internet takes the stress away. Japanese children books online and Italian children's books online are both readily available by searching those headings in Google or another search engine. To find some excellent Italian children's books online, try http://italophiles.com/childstories.htm and for Japanese children's books online, the site is www.yamaneko.org/einfo/mgzn/index.htm

Something to consider: Perhaps you are learning a second language, Italian or Japanese, for instance. An excellent way to improve your reading and comprehension skills is to practice using online books for students in the language you are studying.