Guy was nice enough for forward the comment to me and here’s the answer: There’s no need. It’s built right into Mac OS X!

It’s called Parental Controls and it’s located in System Preferences. You may not have noticed it if you’re the sole user of your Mac but if you have children, Parental Controls can be a huge help. I’ll show you what it can do and how to set it up exactly.

Let’s dive right in! Launch System Preferences but before you can actually start to use Parental Controls, there needs to be a separate account to control. If your kid already has his or her own account on your Mac, perfect. Just select that account in Parental Controls to manage it. If not, then you’ll have to create a new account.

Head over to Accounts Settings and click on the plus button to add a new account. In the window that appears, select “Managed with Parental Controls“, fill in the appropriate fields and click “Create Account“. Right, the account has been created and is set to be managed by Parental Controls.

Now head over to Parental Controls (System Preferences -> Parental Controls) and select the account to configure its settings. To enable Parental Controls for existing accounts, simply click on “Enable Parental Controls” and the settings will appear.

Under the System tab, there are options to use a Simple Finder. This is basically a simplified Finder window. There is no sidebar and no navigation to system folders allowed. There is also an option to select applications you want to be made available to your child. It’s useful if you want to prevent your children from meddling with important apps or perhaps if you want to cut off their MSN privileges temporarily. If you check this box, the list below will unbrick and you are able to select exactly what you want your child to play with.

In the Content tab, you’re provided the option to filter profanity from the Dictionary and to restrict access to certain websites. If you’d like to give your children some room to play, you could use Apple’s filter to automatically limit access to adult websites. In addition to that, you can also add specific sites to the white- or blacklist. Personally, I find that option to have the best balance of leniency and compromise.

In the next tab, Mail and iChat, the idea is really simple: the applications will only allow communication between people on the whitelist. The thought of unsupervised children chatting online is definitely one of a parent’s worst nightmares. Who are they chatting with? Now you can safely control their communication without being overly intrusive.

The next tab is something we’re very interested in. Time Limits is very easy to use and when put into action, it is simply the best way to get your child to bed on time! You can set daily weekday and weekend time limits as well as bedtime restrictions! Your child is logged off automatically as soon as it’s time for bed! Sure, there could be times when your kids have a project due and could use a couple more hours on the computer – that’s something very easy to overcome, I’ll show you how it’s done in a while. But now, let’s log in to an account managed by Parental Controls to see how it will look like, shall we?

As you can instantly recognize, the Finder is simplified to show only the allowed applications. Navigation is crippled so your children can’t delete or modify any of your precious files.

If you’d like to change any of the Parental Controls settings, there’s no need to log off and log into your account. Say, your child wants to access his favorite website, which you had unfortunately overlooked when modifying the whitelist, no worries. You can add it instantly by entering your password (if you have an administrator’s account).

If you’ve set time limits, the remaining time is visible within a drop down menu once you click on the clock. Your children will receive an alert 15 minutes before the time runs out completely and they are able to save their work or ask your permission for more time to play.

Parental Controls is really awesome and extremely useful if you’re a parent. It will allow you to monitor and restrict your kids’ computer activity without being too intrusive. Settings which you’re able to control i.e. communication, apps, navigation; are really flexible and can be changed on the fly. Your child will always go to bed on time, and you can sleep soundly knowing that they’re safe from online intruders.

If there are any other apps that operate better than Parental Controls, I’ll be glad to hear about them. Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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Now think back to when you were a kid and how many pickup games of road hockey, baseball or even cricket that you had. (Do European and Australian kids have pick-up games of cricket? I’m just trying to be more inclusive.) At least once or twice a week? Nothing organized, just a bunch of kids getting together and having fun.

So, where did the kids go? I know there are kids out there or we wouldn’t have Hannah Montana or toy stores. The kids are inside, surfing the Internets, IM’ing their BFF’s, Facebooking and YouTubing. If you’re like me, you know life is to be lived – not watched. So what to do?

How about free software to limit your kids’ online time on the computer?

Here’s a free one to check out:

Romaco Timeout

This is a fine piece of freeware from fellow Canuck, Mark Furneaux (a.k.a. TheUbuntuGuy – no relation). It simply does what it says it will. Perhaps the only caveat is to make sure that when you install it, that you select the Install for Everyone option. That way you can apply it to whichever users are on the computer.

Take a look at the settings window and I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out exactly how to use this software. The beauty is the simplicity.

When the Romaco Control Panel opens, you must enter a password before you can even change any settings. Of course, choose a password that your kids won’t guess. Once you’ve done that, the rest of the Control Panel is accessible.

In order to make the program start counting down, you must check the Enable Timeout checkbox. From there, you can choose the method you want to put healthy limits on the computer usage.

Do you want them to be on the computer for no more than an hour or two a day? Choose the Daily Quota option.

Did you say they could only go on for half-an-hour before supper? Choose the Per-Session Timeout.

With the Per-Session Timeout, you do have to set it for a minimum of  15 minutes. Now, if you set the Warn n minutes before action option in either scenario, there is NO WAY the little goobers can say, “I didn’t know it was going to shut off.” Or the ever-popular, “It’s not fair! I didn’t have time to save my game. I need to get back on and get to a save point!”

Personally, I would only respond to that last statement with my patented, “Did I promise you fair?” accompanied by the arched eyebrow. See that warning below? It scales to whatever size your screen is. They can click the OK button to continue their Twittering.

There are two possible outcomes from setting the timer – Log Off or Shut Down. How you choose is up to you. Log off is good enough for our kids since they know that they’ve had enough time and respect us. Ha! I almost typed that last line with a straight-face.

I’d also recommend checking the Startup Automatically For This User. That way it will startup automatically for that user. That was redundant.

Once you have it set as you want, simply click on the Run Immediately button. The countdown will begin. Then click on the Apply and Close button. That will minimize the Romaco Timeout to the system tray – out of the way.

The only easy way to stop the program now, is to open the Timeout Control Panel from the system tray icon and enter the password. If you’ve done your job right, the kids won’t be able to cirvumvent this. Unless they are more into computers than just surfing. In that case, you may want to look at registry tweaks to disable the Task Manager.

I can’t promise you that your neighbourhood will fill up with kids playing and laughing by using Timeout. What you do with your kids when they step away from the flickering-blue babysitter is up to you.

What other methods do you use to help keep their computer usage healthy? How do you encourage them to get outside and just play? I’m all ears and willing to learn. Just leave me a note in the comments below.

Image Credit : krisandapril

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Parental Controls – Safely Restrict Your Kids’ Computer Access [Mac] (5)
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Computers are definitely not just a toy for the young generation. In fact, computers are a lot more useful for people who have problems with mobility and keeping in touch with the world in the first place.

At the same time, people with reduced eyesight may have severe difficulties using computers because technology is still created to be attractive for the young. For example screen resolutions have become enormous, providing more desktop space, and as a result smaller icons and text. Everything is smaller, faster, and more sensitive. A nightmare for a slow person with bad eyesight and stiff hands.

Fortunately, Windows provides a lot of options to revert these “features” and make computers accessible for the elderly. Windows also comes with tools that enhance visibility and accessibility. Let me show you some of them.

1. Screen Resolution

A high screen resolution is wonderful because more things find space on your desktop. However, a high resolution also reduces the size of everything and text becomes very hard to read. Hence, it may help to reduce the screen resolution. It’s not a very elegant solution, but it’s quite easy.

Right-click onto a blank area of the > desktop and select > Properties. The Display Properties window opens. Switch to the > Settings tab and reduce the screen resolution to 1024 x 768 or 800 x 600 pixel. If you’re using a flat screen, you’ll see that decreasing the screen resolution will also reduce the sharpness. You’ll simply have to find the right balance for yourself.

To retain sharpness and visibility, you can also increase the DPI (dots per inch). Note that this step may require rebooting or the Windows setup CD. Within the > Settings tab click the > Advanced button, switch to the > General tab and under > DPI setting select > Large size (120 DPI) from the pull-down menu.

2. Contrast

Besides larger text and icons (we will come to that), a good contrast enhances readability. Fortunately, there are some Windows default solutions.

We’re still in the Display Properties menu from the previous point. Switch to the > Appearance tab. Under > Windows and buttons select > Windows Classic style. Now you can select a > High Contrast > Color scheme from the respective pull-down menu.

3. Sizes

We already touched on that in the first point. Size matters. And while we’re in the Display Properties, let’s see what else we can do here. For example you can increase the > Font size.

Furthermore, you can click the > Effects button and check the > Use large icons option.

Finally, back in > Display Properties, click the > Advanced button and look at the > Items you can edit here. For example you could increase the font size in menus or the size of caption buttons or the text size in message boxes. Font styles and colors are also under your control.

Before we leave the Display Settings, let me give you one more piece of advice. You can save all these settings as a theme. This way you can easily restore or share them. Within the > Display Settings window, switch to the > Themes tab and click > Save As. I’m sure you can figure out the rest.

4. Start menu buttons

Through the start menu you can quickly navigate to frequently used or standard programs. You can customize the start menu to display large icons.

Right-click onto the > taskbar, select > Properties. Switch to the > Start Menu tab, click > Customize and select > Large icons for programs. Here you can also change your default Internet and E-Mail programs.

5. Magnifier

Windows comes with a tool that lets you magnify things you can’t see despite all your settings.

You will find the tool under > Start > All Programs > Accessories > Accessibility folder > Magnifier. In the same folder you might also find an Accessibility Wizard, a Narrator, and the On-Screen Keyboard.

The magnifier will reserve a bit of screen in the top and open a > Magnifier Settings window.

Through the settings you can increase the magnification level and change the tracking and presentation. Inverting colors can enhance contrast and readability.

The magnification window itself can be moved around the screen and you can change its size. Since it will push away your open windows when launched, you might want to select > Start Minimized for the next time you need it.

6. Keystrokes

Hitting the right keys or several keys at once may be a problem when fingers are stiff. Windows provides some relief.

Go to > Start > Control Panel (classic view) > Accessibility Options and switch to the > Keyboard tab. The options you see here are > StickyKeys, >FilterKeys, and >ToggleKeys.

When > Use StickyKeys is checked the keys [SHIFT], [CTRL], [ALT], and [WINDOWS] are stuck once pressed, which will allow you to press one key at a time. For example to produce a capital A you can press [SHIFT], release the key and then press [A].

Clicking > Use FilterKeys results in a less sensible keyboard. Brief or rapidly repeated keystrokes will simply be ignored. This should reduce the amount of mistakes. However, it’s a bad choice for touch typers.

Check > Use ToggleKeys to be notified of hitting the [CAPS LOCK], [NUM LOCK], and [SCROLL LOCK] keys with a sound.

The respective > Settings buttons provide even more options to fine-tune the behavior of your keyboard.

Within Accessibility Options you can alter many other settings, for example translating system sounds into visual warnings, increasing the display contrast and cursor blink rate and width, and more.

7. Mouse

The mouse another important item to be considered.

Open the > Mouse Properties through > Start > Control Panel (classic view) > Mouse and switch to the > Pointers tab. Changing the scheme and selecting a large pointer will increase its visibility. Within the > Pointer Options tab you can further adapt its visibility and speed. Don’t forget the adjust scrolling with the mouse > Wheel.

With these default Windows options you can do a lot to make computers accessible for elderly or handicapped people. What is the oldest person you know using a computer? Is your grandma online yet? I think it’s about time!

Image credits: Brybs

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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We want to teach them as well! GASP! Yes I said it, let’s try and use the Internet tubes to teach our children while they are having fun!

Double Gasp!

Let’s journey on over to the educational kids website neok12 and see what they have to offer our kids. NeoK12 has a lot of videos for kids that are in grades kindergarten through 12th grade. The best part is that each of these videos has already been viewed and verified by teachers also in grades K through 12.

So no surprise pornography or advertising geared towards children.

As soon as you hit the site you will see this:

Yes that is a LOT of text! There are lots of categories broken down into The Sciences (including Physical, Life, Human Body, Earth, Space, etc.) and others like Social Studies, English, Math and then Fun Videos for a treat (but they are still educational!) Click on any of the topics to drill down your search or type in a search term on the right hand side of the site.

I clicked on the sub-topic under Math titled Numbers. That brought me to this screen:

Now this stuff is right up my 2 year old daughter’s alley! I clicked on the first link – Counting Numbers 1-10 and sat back (I ignored the strange looks from my co-workers as this stuff blasted out of my speakers.)

And just like that the little ones can watch and learn. You can also help tag the videos for the educational audience you think it is appropriate for. Like I choose Primary Grades for this one. Next up I decided to click on Fun Videos. This brought me to a section with Nursery Rhymes. Something I LOVED as a child. Why not use this to introduce little Kayla to them?

I chose the old American classic Jack and Jill… You know the one ruined by Andrew Dice Clay in the early nineties!:) Again I sat back and watched the video also provided via youTube.

When I was finished being entertained by that I went to check out some science. I clicked on Earth and saw these selections:

Very cool stuff to help children of all ages learn. Children are our experiments – let’s help them thrive! Give them every opportunity to learn!

With this educational kids website, you can also create playlists, monitor what your children have done  on the site and recommend other videos for them to index. All in all this is a great idea and we should all help it along with a little nudge!  Tell your friends that have children that neoK12 is here to help them out!

Do you have other favorite educational kids websites? If so share the links in the comments below. I am sure there is someone out there that will thank you!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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I’ve had a colleague who sometimes had to bring her 3 year old son to work when the nanny was sick and no one else was available to take care of him. We all helped keeping him busy and now and then he would also enjoy some games on the computer.

Here are five ways to distract your child and keep any kid busy for a few minutes when you absolutely need it.

MysteryNet’s Kids Mysteries

This website is suited for kids who can already read and love to explore. If you don’t want your kid to simply consume, but rather use their brain and learn something new, you should give this one a try.

In Solve-it and Quick-solve your kid can read short stories and solve difficult cases, based on the information the stories reveal. Was it the gardener? The Chiller section hosts scary stories.

Finally, to impress family and friends alike, the website explains some simple magic tricks everyone can learn.

KideoPlayer

Certainly, the easiest way to keep kids busy is with videos. When the television is not an option, let me tell you, neither is YouTube. You never know what they will zap into next. Pre-filtered content is always the best idea.

KideoPlayer is a family safe YouTube player for kids. It’s extremely simple to handle. Load the page and videos will begin to play automatically. Don’t like the clip, hit the space bar for the next one. There is one button for the most popular videos and a second one just for moms. This makes the site suitable for very young kids.

ZuiTube

Your child may be a little more demanding, wanting to select from a collection of clips. In that case I recommend ZuiTube, which claims to have the largest video collection for kids.

Your kid can choose from New TV & Cartoons, Movies, Funniest Videos, New Music, Dinosaurs, and Animation. I’m sure there is at least one category they will find exciting.

Within the main categories, there are many more subcategories to explore. And while your child makes their selection, you can relax because you know the material is safe.

Crayola Coloring

Kids love color and you can give them what they want with Crayola Coloring. It’s an ace up your sleeve when all you have to offer is a boring office and a computer.  Besides, even if your kid is creative and tempted to color your walls, that’s not gonna work with these colors.

The kid can choose from different types of pens, tip sizes, and colors. The result can even be printed.

Storyline Online

Do you read stories to your children? It’s something wonderful to do and usually has a very calming effect on children, but it takes a lot of time. Why not give your children a little more of it, but have someone else do it?

At Storyline Online you will find many short stories read by many famous members of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. Now they can always claim that a celebrity read them stories when they were small.

We have previously covered games that can keep kids busy.

• Abraham wrote about 10 Open Source Online Games For Kids.
• Guy introduced Roblox – A Cool Lego-Based Free Virtual World for Kids.
• Karl has covered several online games suitable for kids. For example Preschool Online Games That Are Fun For Children or Noggin + Babysmash = One Happy Baby! (Windows).
• I recently introduced 5 Cool Free Internet Games for Kids That’ll Make them Love Math.

What is the most fascinating and self-directed distraction for your child?

Image credits: jmjvicente

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Just like everything else she was only interested in it once or twice. So I have come to love the Internet for its ever changing content and have found several websites with preschool online games that my daughter visits daily and I am going to share them with you! Your kid will love you for it!

The first television show my daughter watched was on a channel we have in the United States called Noggin. Noggin has all the big shows like Dora The Explorer, The Backyardigans, The Wonder Pets and Lazy Town. For the really small ones you can run a program called Baby Smash on top of your browser to not let the baby change the page or mess with the web site. I wrote a post here about it.

There are loads more shows and they all have a mini-website built into Noggin. Each mini site contains lots of preschool online games and music as you can see below from Jack’s Big Music Show. You can see and listen to all this season’s music videos and there is a link to the last seasons videos as well.

Your kid (or you) can get lost on this page as well.

Next up on the same site is the Backyardigan’s mini-site which my daughter adores. There is all sorts of stuff, from video games to creative arts and crafts you can do at your home and even printables for parties and activities.

Next up to bat is the ever popular Sesame Street. Sesame Street has been around since I was a kid but we didn’t have an interactive website like this! Just like Noggin there are loads of games, videos and playlists. They also create a playlist for the day around a specific theme.

Below, the theme is “Guessing Day” others have been “Father’s Day” and “The Letter K”. You can get into the themed play list by hitting the green play button on the home screen after the flash intro plays. The playlist is made up of videos, games and more. If you have a really little one you will probably want to stick with the videos.

Each character has its own links. You can click on the Muppets link on the top to see the break down.

After clicking on any Muppet you will see a screen similar to the one for Elmo:

You can click on any of those links to videos, games or combo playlists all with the character of your choice!

What websites with preschool online games do you let your young ones play with? We would love to hear about them so my daughter will stop trying to find new ones on Google!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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In any event, I did check out Roblox. Not only is it fun, it has some great features. It’s a cool, free virtual world for kids where you get to create your own character, much as you would for SecondLife or any number of other virtual world games.

In this one, the characters are blocky, and reminiscent of those little yellow Lego fellows. It’s kind of like Sims, where you get to build your own buildings and towns. Sort of like Webkinz in that you can earn points (known as tickets or Robux in Robloxian) so that you can do different things like buy user-created online goods for your Roblox character.

What really sets it apart is that kids playing on Roblox can create their own games and put them out there for the world to use.

Parent’s – take note of this site. Here are some of the uber cool tools you can use to keep your wee ones safe:

• All in-game chat is filtered for coarse language. As the parent, you can control whether they can chat or use something called menu chat. It’s a list of pre-written questions and responses. The kid’s just choose them and that’s all the communication they are allowed.
• You can control something called SuperSafe Privacy mode for the kids too. What that does is block ALL text fields from accepting any input. So your precious one cannot put any personal information out there.
• As the parent, you login for them using your email account. That keeps you in control of their playing time AND adds another layer of security from weirdos.
• Most importantly, Roblox has a team of paid and volunteer monitors who pore over all chat logs and forum discussions. There is zero tolerance for course or violent language.
• The Roblox team provides tips for online security and recommends other resources to help you have a fun, safe time online.

As a Dad, I’m very pleased to see this. But as a grown-up kid, I want the games! There are a lot of games on this site, many of them user-built. As a result, some of them are not so good and some are way cool. Area 51 was pretty cool but I’m not sure exactly what the objective of it was. I found a flying saucer and got in it, but I couldn’t go anywhere. Then,I got infected with some sort of alien virus and that’s how you die, I guess. You don’t really die, you just regenerate.

The Roblox-created game, Crossroads, was really fun, too! It’s a good starting ground to learn how to use your tools (which are really weapons) with a bunch of other players. Some of them hang out there regularly and talk to each other and team up. That was so much fun, my wonderful one had to tell me to get back to writing. I wish she wouldn’t use the cattle prod, though.

Sure, the game play seems juvenile, but guess what? It’s supposed to be. The point is that this is an online gaming community that the kids themselves can create. They can do that through the Roblox Studio. It strongly resembles the Visual Basic Studio and allows you to design your own spaces and games. Unfortunately, it’s not terribly intuitive to me, but they do have great documentation over at the Roblox Wiki.

To really get the full effect of building your own games and items in Roblox, you would need a Builder’s Club account, which does cost. Maybe give your kids a couple months of using the site in general, before commiting to that.

With the ability to build games, sell items that they make and interact with other games, kids are learning priciples of programming, design, marketing, business and Math skills. I fail to see the downside to Roblox.

Are you a Robloxian? Or maybe your kids are? What do you like best or least about Roblox? Is this your first time hearing of Roblox and you want to thank me with gratuitous praise? Are you aware of any other free virtual world for kids? Well, my fellow Robloxians, that’s what the comments below are for.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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How can you make all your friends happy? Where can you find inspiration? How can you think of unique presents?

Luckily we have the internet today that can answer all your questions. Here are 50 resources for holiday gift inspiration:

Take Advantage of General Gift Guides and Wizards:

Christmas gift ideas for her, for men, for kids, for parents and so on.

• My Gift Guide is a social bookmarking site allowing its members to post and vote for gift ideas.
• Gift Girl helps to choose the gift by choosing the occasion, price range, the relation to the person.
• Savvy Auntie has developed a great gift wizard with sleek interface which turns the gift choosing onto real fun.
• FindGift.com offers an easy to use gift wizard that helps to choose a perfect gift for anyone.
• Surprise.com lists gift ideas by category, gift type, the recipient and occasion.
• Wellhaven.com gift ideas for “elderly citizens.”
• Gifts.com has a huge database of gifts for everyone and for any occasion. You can browse gifts by a recipient’s interest, by gender, by occasion, by personality, etc.

Giving the Social Media Way:

Send “actual gifts to virtual places” (remember how Pay Pal works? TigerBow does the same with gifts: send a real gift to an email address).

Earn $100 for Christmas presents by being greedy or needy.

Make all your FaceBook friends happy:

• SocialFlowers.com lets FaceBook members send each other flowers.
• Buy and send music (either in digital or physical format) to your friends via Music Gifts.
• Needdit FB application: send your FaceBook friends virtual Amazon presents.
• Free Gifts – a FaceBook app allowing you to send all your FB friends cute virtual presents.

Don’t forget about your Twitter buddies: Tweet Gift allows to send gifts to fellow Twitters.

Package and Decorate Gifts Creatively

• FTD.com sells professionally decorated gift baskets.
• NashvilleWraps.com offers a huge choice of gift packaging: gift boxes, candy boxes, paper bags, plastic bags, tissue paper, ribbon and bows.
• HarryAndDavid.com allows to decorate your gifts with beautiful towers, gift baskets, floral decor, etc.
• Delightful Deliveries offer a huge range of gift baskets for any occasion.
• Wrap Art offers plenty of unique ideas on how to wrap your gift creatively.
• DunWoodyBooth – creative gift packaging.

Choose Home Decor Gifts:

• Terry’s Village offers home decor, accents, holiday decorations and accessories to decorate your home for an occasion.
• Collections Etc.: unique gifts, home and garden decor, and house wares.
• Demdaco.com offers great home decor gifts ideas.

Let Your Gifts Make Someone Happy & Serve a Good Purpose

• JustGive.Org: the one-stop destination of “charitable giving”:
• Eco-friendly floral options: California Organic Flowers offer a huge range of organic flowers.
• TheFindGreen allows to both find great gifts and participate in a green initiative.
• Allgreen Wedding allows to choose among numerous eco-friendly merchants to buy green presents.
• ChangingThePresent.org offers to make gifts “that make a difference”, i.e. give a present and make a donation at the same time.

Personalize Your Gifts:

• Your Gift Label allows you to create customized labels for spirits.
• PoetryGift.com offers to personalize your unique gifts – love poems and personalized poetry for an anniversary, baptism, birthday, wedding, etc.
• PhotoWorks.com: shares personalized photos and books.
• Scrapblog.com: creates personalized scrapbooks with your photos, video and thousands of creative elements.
• Zazzle allows you to design your gift the way you like it.

Gifts For Reawakening the Spirits:

• Isabella Catalog: books, gifts and other inspirations.
• Do you have Catholic friends? Getfed provides a gift catalog for Catholic gifts, books, bibles, rosaries, artwork and church supplies.
• SimpleTruths.com: corporate gift books.
• Romantic gifts offers to choose among ” 450 love-enhancing items”.

Gift Cards, Greeting Cards, E-cards:

• Current Catalog lists greeting cards and also offers gift wrapping services.
• Gift Zinger offers to choose gift cards with the help of a handy gift wizard (based on the recipient’s gender, age, gift category and occasion).
• American Greetings offers a huge collection of free greeting cards.
• BlueMountain.com offers e-cards as well as beautiful printable cards.
• Plaxo allows you to edit their e-cards and gives helpful editing ideas.
• Invitation Box provides you with the whole wealth of ideas on creating a party invitation.
• LeaninTree.com: greeting cards, e-cards, and gifts for all your needs.

Collectibles and Hard to Find Gifts:

• Go Collect: a huge resource of collectibles – retired or hard to find products. You can browse through existing catalog or order any exclusive collectible.
• CollectiblesToday sells unique collectibles, jewelry and gifts.

Don’t Forget About Your Friends’ Kids!

• OneStepAhead.com offers huge choice of cute gifts for children.
• AnneGeddes.com – designer baby pictures and clothes – “the perfect gifts for new and growing families”

A Few More Gift-Related Tips:

• Check out this last year’s post on how to give both free and useful (life-improving) gifts;
• Learn how to organize your gifts (if you are going to give and receive a lot during the holidays);
• Buy nothing for Christmas and still give awesome presents.

Where online do you do your Christmas shopping? Any unique places you would like to add to the list?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Well maybe video games aren’t so important, but I hear a lot of kids really enjoy those newfangled thingymagigs. So below you will find a list of ten family-friendly Linux games that are perfect for those lazy afternoons. Every one of these games has Windows and Mac versions too, so kids who have uncool, non-penguin parents can join in on the fun.

Ri-Li

If you’re familiar with the Snake variety of games then you already have a good idea of what Ri-Li is like. It’s a very simple game concept that has been cloned many times, but I wouldn’t bore you with such blatant rip-offs. No, Ri-Li makes this list because it expands on the core idea and wraps it all up in an experience that is great for all ages, but particularly pleasing for children.

The graphics and sound, as well as the wooden trains theme, gives the game a very cute feel that some kids just love (that I love actually). I’m sure its fifty levels and three difficulties are enough to occupy any kid who gets interested enough.

Recommended Age: 6 and up. It’s a simple concept but the action may be a bit too fast and frenzied for kids who are not accustomed to video games. I recommend you start a younger player on “Easy” mode and then watch how far they can get.

TeeWorlds

What if you took the gameplay style of Quake or Unreal Tournament and mixed them with the unrivaled cuteness of Kirby? I don’t know for sure, but TeeWorlds is probably the closest thing to an answer that this world will ever know. This multiplayer-only platform shooter drops you in a small arena with a bunch of other cute creampuffs and lots of big guns, then lets the shooting begin. Everything about this game shouts “Play me” to me, and if the number of players who have flocked to it is any indication, I am definitely not alone.

Recommended Age: You decide. Video game violence is somewhat of a hot-button issue, and there are many widely varied opinions on the matter. Personally, I figure any kid old enough to watch an old Warner Brothers cartoon is old enough to experience the mild cartoon violence found in TeeWorlds. But I also respect parents’ right to determine what their kids play.

Tux Paint

Tux Paint is not really a game but a drawing program specifically aimed at children. It makes this list though, because in a way it is a game; the most wonderful kind of game in which a child is given a few simple tools and set to the task of recreating the fantastic creatures and worlds of his/her dreams. Oh, and it has stamps too! Tux Paint separates itself from other drawing programs with its simplicity and its unapologetic design stance that it is first and foremost for kids. Its more pointless tools may have adults scratching their heads, but kids will have a wonderful opportunity to be creative.

Recommended Age: 3 and up. Since Tux Paint is a drawing program you really get out of it what you put into it. The only real requirements are basic motor skills and a primitive understanding of a computer. So parents eager to introduce their children to computers at an early age may want to check out Tux Paint. Older kids will find some enjoyment in it as well, and you could always introduce them to more advanced drawing programs if they show enough interest.

Armagetron Advanced

Chances are your child has never heard of the 1982 science fiction movie from Disney on which this game -and several others- are based. Luckily, they need not subject themselves to such tortures to enjoy Armagetron. If lightcycles and crashing into things and retro-awesome 3D graphics sounds good to you, then you and your kids are likely to enjoy Armagetron. Similar to Ri-Li, Armagetron takes a simple, oft-cloned concept and expands on it. The online multiplayer, various skins and game modes, and the aforementioned 3D graphics make Armagetron nearly unrecognizable compared to the original Midway arcade game. (Note – There’s also GLTron, which is very similar, but lacks many of Armagetron’s features.)

Recommended Age: 7 and up. Single player against the AI can be tough, but playing against the experienced players online can be downright painful. Furthermore, while the core gameplay is simple enough, the action can easily become too fast and confusing for younger players. Also be wary of online games where a few swear words and, uh, adult situations are likely to slip out.

Barbie Seahorse Adventures

It’s hard enough to find good open source games period, but finding ones aimed specifically at girls is nearly impossible. BSA, if you couldn’t guess from the title, is one of the few exceptions. It does not involve Mattel’s anatomically-incorrect doll as you might expect, but instead follows the adventures of a seahorse (presumably named “Barbie”) through a fun, Mario-like platform game.

This revelation may lead to disappointment for some girls, but I think the game’s charming visuals and catchy music will more than make up for it. Adults and boys are likely to enjoy this game too, assuming they can swallow their pride and get past the name. I did and it’s quietly snuck in to become one of my favorite Linux games.

Recommended Age: 5 and up. The game isn’t particularly difficult and you can always create new, easier levels if the included levels prove to be too difficult for your kids.

Frets on Fire

A “Guitar Hero” clone for the PC….really? Yes really, and it actually works considerably better than you might first expect. Hold the keyboard like a guitar and use the F1-F5 keys as the frets, then proceed to rock out. Once you’re done playing the three included songs you can download more from the internet or Guitar Hero game discs, or make your own with the built-in editor. Most people agree that Frets on Fire is not as good as the real deal, but you certainly can’t beat the price.

Recommended Age: 6 and up. If the YouTube videos are any indication, plenty of kids enjoy Guitar Hero and some even excel at it. Since “Frets on Fire” is a fairly faithful recreation, I would logically assume they will take to it easily.

You can also check out this review of Frets On Fire by Kyle which was published on Make Use Of back in August.

SuperTux

Who says a penguin can’t jump? Not the creators of SuperTux, since they’ve gone about creating an open source clone of one of the best games of all time, Super Mario Bros. Although, SuperTux never really reaches the lofty heights of Mario, and instead is a pretty standard platform game – get to the end of the level while bonking enemies and avoiding bottomless pits. Still, it’s fun and it’s cute.

Plus like most open source software it is in a constant state of development. So while you’re enjoying SuperTux the developers are hard at work at what has been dubbed SuperTux 2 by some, though it’s really more of an expansion – with new levels, enemies, features, etc. Though it’s still being actively developed and is a bit buggy, it’s still worth a download.

Recommended Age: 7 and up. SuperTux is definitely more difficult than Barbie Seahorse Adventures, but it’s pretty easy as far as platform games go. In fact, the original Super Mario Bros. is in order of magnitude more difficult.

SuperTuxKart

Mario Kart: another one of those Nintendo games that is often imitated but never surpassed. Naturally, SuperTuxKart doesn’t come close, but then what other go-kart racing game has managed to capture the magic of Mario Kart? While you’re pondering that question, I’ll be playing STK. Sure the graphics are dated and there’s no online multiplayer, but it does have cute characters and colorful tracks galore.

Recommended Age: 6 and up. Younger kids are bound to run into the wall (a lot) and will likely finish in last place most of the time. But hey, most kids aren’t particularly competitive and are often content with just exploring the track and learning more about the game.

Frozen-Bubble

A game that is as cute as it is addictive, Frozen-Bubble has quite a reputation for eating up time. Shoot colored bubbles at the approaching mass which in turn causes some of the bubbles to disappear if you line up the colors right. That’s it. I don’t like to admit it, but I’m hooked on this game and hopefully your kids will be too.

Recommended Age: 5 and up. Younger kids could probably manage as well, but there’s no reason to get them addicted too early is there?

Monsterz

Ever heard of Bejeweled? You know, the hit casual game that managed to find its way onto virtually every computer and cellphone? Well, naturally there are a number of open source clones and Monsterz is one of them. Each one offers the same addictive, yet extremely simple gameplay that attracted so many people in the first place. The only reason I chose Monsterz over the others is because it seems targeted at kids.

Recommended Age: 5 and up. Just about anyone can play this game, so it simply becomes a matter of whether they enjoy it enough to want to.

And the Rest

The games on this list should be enough to keep any kid occupied for a little while, but there’s plenty more where they came from. Firstly, I recommend you check out KDE Games and Gnome Games – two sizable collections of simple games included with the KDE and Gnome desktops respectively. The card games and a few of the board games may bore most kids, but there’s bound to be at least one worthwhile game in the pack.

Secondly, you could try some of the websites devoted to Linux games (most of the games they mention are open source and run on Windows and Mac too). The Linux Game Tome, Ubuntu Gamers Arena, and Linuxgames are all good places to start.

And lastly, you can keep an eye on the comments section below for other people’s suggestions.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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