Top Activities to Teach Your Kids About Internet Safety

Internet safety is an important topic that most parents make sure to stress to their children. Unfortunately, the message isn’t always received as strongly or clearly as parents might have hoped. (Besides, what do parents know about the Internet, anyway?)

Instead of listening to a lecture from mom and dad, there are other options parents rely on in order to give kids practical online guidelines. For fun, interactive ways to teach Internet safety, it can be beneficial to look to the Internet itself. Kids.usa.gov, for example, is an excellent resource for children of all ages.

Here are some of the top activities to help parents in their quest to teach kids about the dos and don’ts of the World Wide Web.

Nsteens.org

This website offers a number of quizzes and challenges to help preteens and teens navigate a safe online experience. The NSteens Challenge allows users to watch teen situations unfold and then complete activities based on these videos. Other quizzes, like “To Send or Not to Send” and “What Type of Internet User are You?” help teens think through and reflect on important Internet safety topics they might encounter every day.

For  younger Internet usuers, NetSmartzKids.org:

NetSmartzKids is an excellent tool for teaching basic online safety. The “Inbox Defender” game helps kids understand the concept of protecting themselves from bad emails by filtering, deleting and use of a firewall, but in a fun, interactive way. Another game called “Don’t Open That File! ‘A Computer Virus Game’’ teaches important vocabulary words that will help keep them safe from malware and viruses — words like virus, attachment, spam and more.

Any of the above activities are perfect for starting a conversation with your children about Internet safety. By proactively addressing the topic, parents can make sure kids are armed with the information they need to make smart choices while enjoying the knowledge and freedoms that come with using the Internet.