Safe Kids Search Engines is the topic of our blog post today!
Our foremost responsibility as educators and parents is to ensure the safe, secure, and appropriate usage of the Internet by our children and students. This task is best accomplished through conscientious education and consistent practice.
Media literacy and digital citizenship form the bedrock of such education, equipping students with essential understanding and navigational skills to traverse the web safely and efficiently.
To further aid our children in reaping the benefits of the Internet while avoiding its potential pitfalls, we can turn to safe kids search engines. These tools form a more secure pathway for children’s online exploration.
While mainstream search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing do offer safe search features to sieve out explicit and irrelevant content, their safeguards are sometimes insufficiently robust. This is where dedicated kids safe search engines step in.
These specialized search engines meticulously filter out unsuitable content, delivering only results from websites that have passed rigorous scrutiny by educators and librarians. Children can confidently conduct their online research, free from the worry of stumbling upon inappropriate material.
Key features of safe kids search engines
Safe Search Engine offer various features including:
- Content Filtering: This is perhaps the most crucial feature of a kid-safe search engine. The engine should automatically filter out inappropriate content, blocking adult-oriented or potentially harmful results from appearing.
- Monitored Browsing: Some search engines offer monitored browsing, allowing parents or educators to track the search history. This feature provides an extra layer of security by letting adults know what content the child is accessing.
- Kid-Friendly Interface: A safe search engine for children should have a user-friendly interface, often featuring larger icons, simplified navigation, and appealing visuals. It should also provide age-appropriate search results.
- Privacy Protection: Safe search engines for children often don’t track, store, or share personal data. They don’t use cookies or keep a record of searches, thus safeguarding children’s online privacy.
- Ad Restrictions: Kid-safe search engines usually have strict policies about advertising. Some don’t display ads at all, while others ensure that all ads are child-friendly and non-intrusive.
Safe Kids Search Engines
Here are our top picks for safe kids search engines:
1- Kidtopia
Kidtopia is both a search engine and a directory designed by school librarians for kids. Its search functionality is enhanced by Google Custom search allowing kids to enjoy Google features with the least possible amount of commercial and distracting content.
Kidtopia also features a huge collection of kids friendly websites curated by teachers and school librarians covering areas such as social studies, arts, language arts, animals, math, technology, games, and many more.
2- Kid’s Search Engine
Kid’s Search Engine, as its name indicates, is a safe search engine for kids. It provides kids with an age-appropriate platform where they can search the Internet in a safe and secure way. It uses Google’s Safe Search technology and a host of filtering tools to provide kids with appropriate search content.
The site also features a directory containing links to peer-reviewed and kids-friendly platforms and websites. Kid’ s Search Engine also includes an image and video search functionality that enables young learners to search for and access educational video content online.
3- Kiddle
Kiddle is ‘a visual search engine for kids powered by Google, offering safe kids web, image, and video search. Results are vetted by editors.’
4- DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is not necessarily designed for kids but it does however offer features that allow users to search the net without compromising their private and personal information. DuckDuckGo does not store search history, doesn’t run ads, and does not track users.
5- GoGooligans
GoGooligans is another kid search engine that provides a number of important features including: use of Google index to retrieve results, apply different kinds of filtering features, excludes inappropriate sites and keywords, offers search in over 30 languages , and many more.
6- KidRex
KidRex is ‘a fun and safe search for kids, by kids! KidRex searches emphasize kid-related webpages from across the entire web and are powered by Google Custom Search™ and use Google SafeSearch™ technology.’
7- Safe Search Kids
Safe Search Kids uses Google Safe Search to provide search results. It also provides other features for safely searching for images, videos and wikis.
8- KidzSearch
“Family-friendly safe search engine for children. KidzSearch safe search technology is always on and cannot be turned off by clearing cookies or using a different computer. Results are always Strict Filtered. Nothing to install. Free public service.”
9. SweetSearch
SweetSearch is an online search engine that allows kids and other users to safely search the web without worrying about inappropriate or unreliable results. SweetSearch uses a proprietary algorithm to filter out results that may be inappropriate or unhelpful for young users.
It only returns websites that have been reviewed and approved by educators and librarians. The results are ordered by relevance, but with additional filtering options such as subject, age range, etc. SweetSearch also features a safe image search where users can safely look for photos and images.
The search engine also provides kids with useful educational tools such as a citation builder and a research guide. The citation builder helps kids format their citations correctly according to the chosen style (e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago). The research guide provides tips and steps on how to conduct research. It is a great resource for kids to learn how to properly search for reliable information.
10. Swiggle
Swiggle is an innovative search engine that not only offers a safe and secure way to explore online content, but also encourages responsibility among its users. With the help of SwiggleBot, users can search for useful information and images without having to worry about inappropriate content. In addition, if they come across anything that they deem to be inappropriate, users can immediately report it and have the content blocked.
Swiggle is powered by Google Custom Search and utilizes Google SafeSearch to ensure that the content returned is appropriate. Additionally, Swiggle has also been configured to prioritize educational content, making it an ideal search engine for students and educators alike.
Final thoughts
The kids safe search engines I shared above offer a much-needed layer of security, filtering out inappropriate content and prioritizing educational and child-friendly results. Features like content filtering, monitored browsing, and stringent ad policies make these search engines tailored solutions for young web explorers. As someone who’s deeply involved in educational technology, I can’t stress enough how crucial it is to introduce these platforms early on. The options we’ve explored here, from Kidtopia to Swiggle, offer varied functionalities that cater to different needs and age groups.
