Building Sites for Kids
Free website generators and building services let children and adults create their own websites with images, text and multimedia content relevant to personal hobbies and interests. Kids who are interested in building their own sites can use free resources for learning the coding and programming languages themselves online and in books -- while also having the option to use a hands-on website editing service with no knowledge of coding needed.
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Brainstorm and Find Inspiration
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Help your child Brainstorm ideas and search for inspiration he begins building his own website; this will help with the overall planning and development process. Some ideas for you and your child to consider: a blog to share ideas, opinions or to use as an online daily journal or a website to highlight his interests in hobbies, sports or television shows and movies. Browse various kid-themed websites for inspiration on the type of content your child may want to create and share. Websites such as Colour Lovers (colourlovers.com) and Unmatched Style (unmatchedstyle.com) feature free color palette tools and galleries of websites for Web design inspiration and color scheme help.
Research and Learn the Languages
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Learning to build websites is more than clicking the mouse and selecting photos for your pages. While website builders are available to use without coding or using HTML and PHP -- popular Web development languages, they also allow users to incorporate custom coding, which will help advance your child's knowledge of Web design. Books at libraries and online are available that teach how to create and build websites. Some traditional languages for building websites include HTML, PHP and CSS. Alternatively, websites for kids such as Lissa Explains (lissaexplains.com) and Small Planet (smplanet.com) exist for the sole purpose of teaching how to build and code websites easily.
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Safety Online and When Building Websites
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Teaching your child about safety and privacy risks is important for anyone creating an online profile or building a website. Always enter your own personal details rather than your child's when registering a domain name or a Web-hosting service package. Inform your child of the potential dangers online and encourage him to create an online "alias" to keep his real name hidden entirely from those online. Monitor his Internet usage and also become involved when he is building his site so you are informed about the process as well.
Finding a Service
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Find a website building service or company that is suitable for your child's abilities and needs as far as the type of website he plans to create. Website builders for kids include Webs (webs.com), Wix (wix.com) and Kids Website Builder (kids-website-builder.com), which all feature free plans and "drag and drop" website building tools. Sign up for the using your own email address or an email address registered specifically for the website building. Once you are registered, your child may begin using the website's builder to add photos and text to his website for publishing and sharing.
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References
Resources
- Lissa Explains: HTML Help & Tutorials for Kids
- SM Planet: Create Your Own Webpage
- Kids Website Builder: Kids Website Builder
- WIX: Free Website Builder
- Webs: Make a Free Website, Get Hosting
- Common Sense Media: Website Building for Kids
- Unmatched Style: Web Design Inspiration
- Colour Lovers: Color Trends + Palettes
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
