Kids Video Zone: Child Friendly Website Launch with Safety Protections Built-In

"Kids Video Zone was created with the premise of being a YouTube for kids. YouTube has lots of really great learning videos on its site that people have submitted, but it isn't organized in a manner that children and parents could get the most out of them. This is where the concept for KidsVideoZone.com, spawned. That is the basis for the site, then adding in places for parents to do things and links to family blogging sites as well as school resources and savings areas. This is the perfect combination for families to use one site for all their children's needs," Kids Video Zone Owner Joel Galston said. "We have been in the daycare business for 5 years and this is one more thing that we offer the families of our daycare, something that the children could continue to learn in the evenings, on vacation and when they graduate our facility and move on to school. We use the site in addition to our traditional teaching methods. We have created a safe are for children to watch videos and not be concerned about the subject matter, it has all been reviewed and is monitored on a daily basis for content."

Thinking about his own children and the kids in his family's care, he has launched the new website for kids.

"I saw that there are video sites that have some great educational videos on them, but there isn't a safe site that is geared specifically for children, where parents could feel good knowing that their children could wander around and not get unwanted content. Kids Video Zone has videos in an organized manner, categorized so children can find the videos they are most interested in," Galston explained. "Kids could use our site for learning, from ABCs to grade school math and geology and everything in between. In the grade school resources area, there are templates based on age group for what the children are learning. We have flash cards and areas for kids to make their own puzzles. Our site has something for students of all ages. Newspapers from around the world or world clocks and time zones. KVZ has new site links introduced on a weekly basis, so the amount of subjects and information is growing very fast. I'm the administrator so I'm notified of all videos that are posted and by whom. I have the ability to remove any video that is of mature nature and ban the person posting items that shouldn't be posted. This is the best way to make our site child friendly. I also monitor the links on a daily basis as well."

As a parent, Galston believes the new website is a good outlet for kids. "Our site is the perfect place to play games and learn, because someone has taken the precautions and effort to make it a safe place for children to go. Lots to learning and exploring on our site to be done. And for parents there is a parent blog area so parents could blog each other about specific issues. There is also an area for children safety and special needs children resources. Tutoring sites and organizations etc…. the list goes on."

While the site is geared toward kindergarten age through middle school, there is something for all age students. Galston believes adults could visit the site and view parental materials that helps with children's advocacy agencies. It would also create an opportunity for parents to discuss new phases of childhood issues.

Expanding computer skills is also part of the process. "Our site has easy navigation as for kids to get from one place to another really fast. They have several ways to get to their end result, so children will get better computer skills by playing some of the learning games. There are lots of learning games on the site that help increase the children's computers skills as well as logical thinking and hand eye coordination. There are lots of great videos and phenomenal websites that I don't think many people even know about. These sites are great for helping students with homework and reference."

Most importantly, Galston wanted to help kids. "We are in the childcare field and wanted to give the children a safe place to continually grow after they graduate our program. The funny thing is, they use our site at home now, for learning songs counting and all the other things children like to learn. Our site is FREE to the public. If someone wants to upload videos they need to register first with the site as a member for FREE, then they can post events, photos in a private photo gallery, up to 100 images, and child appropriate videos that will be checked. Schools can get listed on our site and we will put a link to their fundraiser page. There is also a fundraiser idea list as well as other services available. The public calendar is available… the list goes on and on."

For more information visit www.kidsvideozone.com.

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