Top 8 Sites For Kids To Improve Mouse Skills.
Computers and Laptops have been passed down early to the new generation of children. They’re expected to know how to interact with a mouse and keyboard as soon as they lay their eyes on a screen. Our Ninjas are trained in the art of programming and therefore they primarily need to know how the computer mouse works.
We understand that teaching children anything should always involve fun or they won’t pay attention. To help you through the process of instructing your kid on how to use the pointer, our team has scoured the internet and found 8 sites.
Here they are, in order of how we think they should be visited.
1. ABCMouse
A simple and child-safe website that has an integrated watch-and-play tutorial to get your child started on the mouse. It starts off by asking what kind of mouse you have and on which side you’ll be using it and then teaches movement, clicking and hold-and-drag. This tutorial is free but the rest of the content is locked behind a paid subscription.
https://www.abcmouse.com/email/mouse-and-pointer
2. Bees and Honey
A passive game that is also centered around the mouse functions, Bees and Honey gives the child three stages of gameplay which teaches movement, clicking and hold-and-drag. The animation and images are attractive and can hold your child’s attention long enough to give them the practice.
https://www.tvokids.com/preschool/games/bees-and-honey
3. DragonDrop
Now that the child has understood how the mouse works, we’re gonna get into a game that is about precision control. A fun flash-game about a hungry dragon, DragonDrop shows the child how to precisely move the pointer and get habituated to the flow of clicking and moving. It does have a high-score board as a motivation to keep going again and is overall pretty fun.
https://www.roomrecess.com/games/DragonDrop/play.html
4. Peter Pickle’s Picklenic
If the dragon seems a little too much for your young child or the time and lives constraint is being too hard on them, then try this flash-game. It’s just a pickle running around trying to pop the bubbles that his father blows. Although precision isn’t the cornerstone of this game, the bubbles’ flight-time serves as a replacement to the time factor and teaches the same co-ordination that DragonDrop did.
http://mousepractice.altervista.org/index.html
Alright now that they’ve mastered the mouse, it’s time to put imagination in the mix and get those creative juices flowing.
5. Thisissand
Thisissand (This is Sand) is a free-to-use app and web player that gives you sand to be dropped into layers to make art. Seems simple enough to do right? Many beautiful sceneries can be created by changing the colors and mixing them up. There’s a lot of examples of how structures can be built like these down below
6. Jackson Pollock Art
Jackson Pollock was a famous abstract artist. He was widely noticed for his technique of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. The webpage allows you to do the same but with random colors every time you click. It’s still a fun way to use the mouse and also a way to tell your child about a great artist.
7. Silk
Create beautiful weaves of silk using the 7 solid colors or create gradient masterworks. It’s a great site to understand patterns and symmetry and the mouse interaction is exquisite.
8. Ball On a String
Originally created as a website to waste time, this website can actually be used to idly teach children clicking and moving the cursor. It’s a super basic thing and will probably tire them out really soon when they can’t make accurate clicks.
https://www.ballonastring.com/
These are our picks for teaching your kids how the computer mouse is used. Although you might find that you spend some time on the sites as well, not unlike our new intern, and grab some extra practice yourself. Have fun with these.
Do comment and let us know if you find the article helpful.
(Disclaimer: We are not sponsored by these sites, we’re just generally good people)
