Online Tangram Games And More is a website that offers a myriad of problem-solving puzzle games for children to play. There are a total of nineteen games currently offered through this website, as of this writing, as a matter of fact: Mahjongg Solitaire, Reversi, Same Game, Backgammon, Sudoku, Mastermind 2, Tangram, Snake, Pairs, Maverick, Gravity, Rush Hour, Tris, Difference, Tower of Hanoi, Set, Mastermind, Eleven High, and Game of Life.

Each of these games, in some fashion, call upon the player to rely upon reasoning, logic, and analytical skills in order to win each game.

Most, if not all of these online games, are based on their traditional offline counterparts. What is unique about the ability to play these games online is that the player has the ability to play against the computer and does not need to worry about setting up an actual physical game board. The player can simply log onto the website and get started playing right away without having to set up any tangible game pieces. Hence there is no clean up.

Plus, the games may be played an unlimited number of times, over and over again, with different variations of each game during each and every single invocation of the game instances.

The premise of Mini-Mizer is really quite simple: You start with a basic Lego figure. And then your child can customize this figure across a myriad of different dimensions: Your child can customize the avatar’s facial expression, hair style and hair color, color and style of shirt and pants, and what type of hat, scarf, and shoes it is wearing, and even whether the character has wings or a tail!

This game encourages youngsters to explore all of the different ways people in the real world look and how they dress. It empowers them to take creative control over creating their own characters, using completely interchangeable parts. For instance, with the simple click of a mouse button, the avatar might switch from brown hair to blond hair, or from wearing blue jeans to a red skirt. Youngsters can even pick different objects for the avatar to hold in its hand, and you even get to pick which hand the object is being held in.

Games like this one not only challenge your child’s creative intellect, but also encourage the development of your child’s hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, namely that of being able to manipulate the information on the screen by moving the mouse around and clicking on the mouse buttons.

Has your child created a masterpiece that you would simply like to save, or which you would like to use elsewhere online? The Mini-Mizer website even provides instructions on how you can save the avatar that your child has customized.

With hundreds of possible combinations of characteristics to build your avatar from, this will help to stimulate your child’s sense of curiosity and creativity.

CW4Kids is the popular name of the 4Kids.tv website created and run by the CW television network. CW4Kids has plenty of games that the kids will love to play, but there are also excellent opportunities for kids to find activities and puzzles that encourage learning.

At CW4Kids, kids can interact with other members at the site in a safe environment. Children are able to challenge each other on each game or even interact with each other on a messaging system that incorporates pre-written messages. This allows kids to choose from a list of messages to send to their friends, but also maintains a safe environment.

CW Kids Games Page

From the main page, kids get to choose from a great variety of games and activities. Available activities include puzzles, arcade style games, word games and much more. The main page features a different “featured game” every day so that there’s always something new to check out. Also, CW features a list of the top five point leaders as motivation for kids to work their way up the ranks.

Games Highlights and Categories

When you scroll down to the bottom of the main page, you’ll discover games organized into different sections. For example, you’ll see a set of spotlight games, featured activities, and also games sorted by the show they’re based on, or the category of the game.

The category section is great for kids that really like certain types of games, like action, puzzles or other game types. Kids can go straight to that section certain that they’ll find something to do that they’ll love to play.

Mechanical Commando

One example of one of the arcade games that are available at the CW Kids Games section includes Mechanical Commando, where kids navigate a tank through various mazes, dodge enemy drones and try to shoot them with different weapons. The quality of most of these games is somewhat average, but they are better than most of the free flash games that you’ll find at other sites.

Chaotic

A great example of some of the strategy games is the game called Chaotic. Chaotic is a modernized version of the original game called Othello, where you must change all game pieces to your own color by enclosing your player’s pieces by yours. The strategy and puzzle pieces offered by CW Games are all well done. They are almost all remade classics with great graphics and cool background music to hold the interest of any child.

Pyramid Stones

Another great example of a great educational game you’ll find at CW Kids is Pyramid Stones. In this game, kids need to hold down the mouse button to size stones and size them appropriately to balance the scale. Each stage gets more complicated as various sized stones get piled onto one side. The name of the game is to match the weight as closely as possible without going over and tipping the scale too far.

Lots of Mazes

Throughout the activity area, you’ll also come across a wide variety of creative mazes that really push the IQ of any child. There are some mazes that test the child’s ability to solve multiple puzzles at once by manipulating the keyboard directional keys to land the solid white square into the hollow one. Such a process of concentrating on several complex goals at once can greatly accelerate the development of advanced problem solving skills.

Kids Can Win Prizes

At CW Kids, there are also lots of educational or just plain fun activities for kids to choose from. One example of such an activity is “papercraft” patterns that kids can use to build paper model figures of their favorite CW figures.

CW Game Challenges

Throughout CW Games, kids can also challenge other players to face off against them in many of the games that are available throughout the website. Both players accumulate points in such challenges, but the winner gets to have the results published under “Recent Challenge Results” in the Challenge section of the website.

Sending Messages

One of the things that is most important to parents is that any website their kids are members at should not allow any sort of messaging system where members can type out private messages to each other. CW Kids alleviates those concerns by providing kids with a messaging system that has prefilled messages for kids to choose from. This prevents private conversations where children could get in trouble, but it still allows kids to send fun messages back and forth.

Rewards Plaza

Kids that play games at CW Kids even have the opportunity to win real prizes. By building up points after playing games or winning challenges, children get to trade in those points for small gifts. While the gifts aren’t extremely expensive (in fact, most are only virtual), they do make kids feel as though they’ve made a great accomplishment.

CW Kids is an excellent example of a children’s game site that parents can feel good about letting their kids play. The environment is safe, and the variety of games allow for a little bit of fun mixed in with a little bit of learning and education.

There are a lot of game sites for kids on the Internet, but not all of them come with the backing of the Nickelodeon brand, where you know the content, themes and fun will be age-appropriate and a lot of fun. Kids love Nick, and parents like the fact that Nick produces high quality television content for their kids. The website content from Nick offers the same attention to quality and fun.

Nick Games Main Screen

At Nick Games, there are just so many games that kids will be hard pressed to run out of interesting things to do. Unlike most flash game websites, the quality of these games is superb, and no less than the quality of the shows that the characters and storylines are drawn from.

Nick games offers children a whole range of choices to pass their time online, including adventure and strategy games, role playing games, puzzle games and even card games! The site is also a social network filled with comment areas and forums where kids can offer their own opinions about the games, and even an area for multiplayer games where your kids can play games with other children from around the world.

Nick Game Categories

Expect to find more than just plain vanilla fighting and shooting games on this website. Luckily, the creators of Nick Games took time to think about the sort of things their young audience is interested in. This is why, if you search through the Game Categories section, you’ll find categories like card games, quick-play games and puzzle games. None of these games (with the exception of multiplayer games) require any significant setup or learning curve – kids can basically click on the link and immediately start having fun.

The Action Packed Games

There are some games that really stand out above the rest in terms of quality and the ability to capture the interest of kids. One of those is a game called “Action Packed” where kids get to choose their favorite Nick character to play a high paced (and VERY fun) action arcade game.

Playing Action Packed

Once in the game, the child must enter into a duel with the other computer, launching pineapples or other funny objects at the villain. It is a turn-based action game reminiscent of the classic turn-based cannon games from the Atari days. Nick added a special spin and of course a touch of Nick style with a fun backdrop, enthralling background music, and a very easy control system where you click once to aim, and twice to launch. Just make sure to hit the villain before he hits you!

The Game Builder

Another area where Nick went above and beyond simple game play is developing a fascinating application called “Game Builder” where kids can actually generate the background, characters and action for their very own game creation. New creations even get shared on the site so that other kids can try it out. The Game Builder is a great way to spark a child’s creativity and give them a head start into the world of computer programming.

The Cartoon Builder

Similar to the Game Builder, kids can explore another side of their creativity with the “Cartoon Creator”, where they choose the appearance and behavior of their very own cartoon character. Kids really love making up stories, and the cartoon creator allows children the freedom to generate their very own. An account is required to use this part of the site, so parents must give permission and allow children to log into the site to finish their cartoon.

The Brain Surge Quiz

Throughout the Nick game site, kids will come across content that’s drawn directly from some of their favorite shows. For example, in the puzzles and quizzes area, they can play the Brain Surge Quiz, which is based off of the popular show Brain Surge. The online quiz actually features real video taken from the show itself. Kids can try to answer the questions and see how smart they are!

Playing Cards

If arcade games, puzzles or creating games or cartoons don’t interest your child, then introduce them to the Card Games area, where they can play games like “Skipper Skidoo.” This particular game is similar to the popular “Skip-Bo” card game. Children will feel like they’re playing cards with their best friends – only in this case their best friends are the Penguins of Madagascar!

Nick Racer Games

On Nick Games, even the racing games are infused with a bit of Nick flavor. For example, in “Tori’s Race Way,” the child can select which character they want to drive their race car, before entering the track and battling for first place. The animated characters really look a lot like their real live TV counterparts, which of course young fans of these shows will love.

Multiplayer Games

One of the most unique game playing environments are multiplayer games. Unlike other games where children battle against computer-based opponents, in multiplayer games, children actually have an opportunity to play games either against or teamed up with other children from around the world. As any child knows, any game is a lot more fun when you have someone else to play it with.

Overall, Nick Games is one of those sites that is obviously designed by highly professional programmers and constantly updated with fresh content. Most children that start playing online at Nick Games usually return, because the games are well made and fun to play, and there’s always something new to do.

The games on the site are: A Winter’s Tale, Radish Picking, Find Peter, Puppet Show (where you can create a customized puppet show for your kids) and Vegetable Picking Game.

Welcome to the world of Peter Rabbit!

To hear the horses sing acapella, just click on the horses’ heads one by one. A fun game for both kids and grown-ups!

Click here to hear the cartoon animals sing.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to link to or bookmark any specific game on friv.com, which makes the site a bit difficult to use. Still, there are lots of great, free online games in there!

Playing a free, fast-paced Sonic platform game online on friv.com

There are many breeds of cats and dogs to choose from in this game: Siamese, Persian, Poodle, Golden Retriever, Dalmatian, Rottweiler and many more.

The site also has an active pet forum where you can chat about your virtual pets, or perhaps even about your real pets.

Some adoptable animals on the site Foopets.com

Start by building your ordinary self, choosing gender, hair color, eyes, mouth etc so that you get a picture that looks just like you. Then take your pick from the wild parts – perhaps you would like elephant ears, or frog arms? Or a crocodile tail?

Then choose a background for your avatar – a forest or the sea, perhaps? Finally, you can email your masterpiece to a friend, or use it as a desktop wallpaper.

Bat wings, antelope ears and tiger arms. Build Your Wild Self is presented by New York Zoos and Aquarium.

Under Advanced options, you can choose the number of pieces in the puzzle you create, and the shape of the puzzle pieces. You can choose between 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 pieces. When you have created your own puzzle, you can link to it from your own web page for everyone to play.

This applet requires the latest version of Java, so you might have to upgrade your Java installation to use it.

Click here to solve the Moose image puzzle.

A basic membership is free, but you can upgrade to a paid account for $5.95 per month, giving you access to more exclusive items, games and events.

Each player has an igloo to live in, and can purchase a larger igloo using virtual coins. Penguins can also adopt a number of pets, also called puffles. There are eight different breeds of puffles with distinct personalities.  Members can also play mini games to earn money, or act out plays.

Read more about Club Penguin on Wikipedia

A town in the Club Penguin virtual world.

The games are accompanied by soothing classical music, making them a relaxing kind of time wasters.

Playing the monkeyslide game at Orisinal.com

A jumping rabbit in the Winterbells game at Orisinal.com: Morning Sunshine.

Just like in real life, there are races, competitions and prizes to be won. You can also breed your own horses, and manage an equestrian center.

To play this horse simulation game, visit www.howrse.com .

A young stallion at howrse.com.