Boys like to play soccer and Minecraft – girls like horses and play Star Stable. Fortunately, it’s not that simple. The developers of the online role-playing game Star Stable apparently see things differently. The game comes only with female characters.
In Star Stable, players ride a horse across an island and meet other female riders. They can communicate with them via chat during the game. You’ll have to complete missions, solve puzzles and win tournaments. This will allow them to get new clothes and better riding gear. Up to the fifth level the game is free, after that there are different payment models for the full version: you can buy access to the game for a month, three months or a whole year.
In addition to the game itself, there are complementary apps to enhance the horse experience for girls.
Star Stable offers a large virtual world that children will love to discover. The course of the game is designed by yourself. The characters your child can slip into, as well as their horses, can be customized to appear unique. Especially girls, for whom the game is tailored, can live out their love of horses here. The graphics are appealing and realistic, so they can get the feeling of sitting on a horse themselves. The landscapes and colors appeal positively to children.
The horse game already has a large community. There are several Star Stable Let’s Play formats on YouTube. In it, players give tips and comment on their own playing in an entertaining way. There’s even its own animated series on YouTube.
Before playing, players must first create an account and provide their date of birth. There is no verification of the information, so you can’t be sure if only children use the game. Therefore, there is a risk of cyberbullying and cybergrooming – even if the chat function is set to be child-friendly. Inappropriate language, such as hate speech, can also occur in such chats and be unpleasant for your child.
The free entry into the game has the goal of getting children excited about it, so that they would like to continue playing. However, the cost of the full version is quite high. There is also a virtual currency called Star Coins, of which each player receives 100 once a week. JorvikShillinge can be obtained, for example, by completing tasks. However, impatient gamers can also buy them directly from Star Stable ‘s store. Star St able sets strong incentives to spend money on accessories. Especially for younger children and teenagers, in-app purchases are a risk to spend a lot of money.
Despite the many options to customize his character and the horse, it is not possible to create a male or gender-neutral character. Even though horses are especially popular with girls, most boys are excluded from the start. The game conveys that horses and riding are not for boys. Thus, Star Stable falls back on classic gender roles, which can make both boys and girls feel discriminated against.
On Star Stable, the game makers have provided information for parents. In it, they emphasize the positive aspects of the game, such as learning social skills and developing a sense of responsibility through dealing with virtual currency. It is pointed out that parents should educate their children about possible risks and dangers of the Internet. Star Stable rules were listed separately for this purpose. There is no age recommendation.
The game makers emphasize to handle personal data of children particularly sensitively and to adhere to the so-called Safe Harbor agreement, which is dedicated to the protection of personal data of children collected online. It also states that no information or details about the account should be shared with third parties.
Since there is no specific age recommendation, you should check out the game for yourself before your child plays it for the first time. This will help you assess whether your child can already cope with the content, functions and fast images. Due to the possible risks, your child should be at least 10 years old and should definitely get to know the game together with you in the beginning.
Talk to your child about potential dangers and how in-app purchases work. Set time limits so your child doesn’t get completely lost in the virtual world. You can find more tips on this in our article “Games in the family“.
Try to make your child understand that horses and riding is not just a topic for girls. Should your son want to play the game, encourage him to do so despite the one-sided perspective of the game makers.
We explained that music is important and beautiful for children in our article Accompanying children’s songs with apps.
In addition to apps, there are also some websites and YouTube channels that support listening, making and discovering music together as a family. If you don’t know how to play an instrument yourself or don’t think you are musical, this is a great way to introduce music to your child.
On the channel Children’s Songs with Bobby there are music videos with the llama Bobby. The colorful music videos designed as cartoons feature newly recorded children’s songs. They are also available on their own website kinderlieder-mit-bobby.de – sorted by categories like Christmas songs, music mix or lullabies.
The Children’s Songs to Sing and Move Along channel delivers just that: familiar and new children’s songs that show children and adults singing and dancing and encourage them to join in. The selection on this channel is huge and there are different playlists and categories under which the songs can be found.
Children’s songs on YouTube are mainly for younger children. If you are looking for and playing children’s songs this way, it is best to use the YouTube Kids app. Then you and your child won’t see any ads before and during the video, and it will be easier for you to find suitable video offers for children.
In the sound box of the WDR you can explore the big world around music. The site is designed as a web app, so it also works very well via smartphone. There are rhythm and sound games, concert videos and much more. The sound box is something for older children, who can learn and try out a lot about music here. There is even more music for all age groups to discover at Kiraka: Here you can find videos on current chart music, interviews with interesting female musicians as well as info clips on Beethoven and others.
Africa Junior offers insights into the musical worlds of distant countries. You can listen to popular children’s songs from different regions of Africa, watch video clips and there is a quiz on African music.
The very simply designed website Surakinder offers a musical and picture-rich world of experience for children. Select a field and dive in together with your child. With beautiful music, there are dancing flowers, fairy tale characters and much more to discover.
On the site of Junge Klassik you can learn a lot about instruments and classical music. The site is quite colorful and playful design. Even adults can discover new things here! There’s even more at Trompis Tondschungel, where kids can go on a musical expedition.
Operas are more for adults, aren’t they? With the Opera Maker app, children can discover the world of opera and tell their own stories about it. The website shows what this can look like.
There is also a lot to learn about music at the Children’s Radio College. Open your ears and go! This can even help in music lessons at school. And if you don’t feel like clicking, why not watch an episode of hr2-Lauschinsel together?
“Become rich and famous” – this is the slogan with which the game MovieStarPlanet advertises. For teenagers, the world of the “rich and famous” can be tempting. In this online game, they can create their own “movie star” and socialize with others. However, this is not always unproblematic.
MovieStarPlanet is especially popular with children and allows them to represent themselves, play and interact with others. It is both a game and a social network, and making new contacts plays an important role. Registration is free of charge. All you need is a username and password. The age of a user is not checked. Then you choose your own avatar (in the form of a boy or girl) and design it yourself or based on the MovieStarPlanet selection options. In various virtual rooms, users play games such as a “beauty contest” with other users and collect virtual money to buy new clothes and become more famous, for example. By collecting so-called “StarCoins” you can buy many options and products. This includes expensive clothes as well as props and animations, e.g. for self-created videos. This allows you to increase your own popularity within the game. The virtual StarCoins can also be bought with real money.
Since the age information of the users is not checked, it is possible to register even with a wrong age and you never know who is hiding behind a profile. Your child can’t be sure who they are really chatting with. There is a risk of cyberbullying and cybergrooming.
Many features of the game are associated with costs through so-called in-app purchases. This can make the game an expensive affair. It can also be frustrating to not be able to use content in the game because it has to be unlocked for money first. If you don’t want to spend real money, you can also unlock content by playing especially regularly. Thus, users are encouraged to be online as often as possible in order to keep up with the other players and become more popular.
The image of women at MovieStarPlanet is also questionable; the avatars embody stereotypical and sexualized role models. Female avatars mostly wear very skimpy clothes and are often belly-baring with long hair and red lips. Judging other players and increasing notoriety within the game through superficialities like expensive, trendy clothing is also critical and can put pressure on your child.
According to the provider, the game is intended primarily for children and teenagers aged 8 to 15. MovieStarPlanet operators are aware of the risks, which is why there are various security measures in the game. Among other things, there is the possibility to report other users. There is also automated analytics and a data management system designed to identify inappropriate behavior and report it to moderators.
Parents should be aware of the potential dangers in the offer. It is important that you accompany your child. Point out to communicate only with friends who are also known in real life and in no case to reveal personal information about yourself. Also, reassure your child that he or she can always turn to you should he or she be confronted with unpleasant or funny content or messages. Talk to your child about reporting and blocking features before using the service.
Please agree on rules for in-app purchases together with your child, or prevent them, for example, by making sure that your child does not make any in-app purchases. do not store any payment data or prevent in-app purchases on your child’s cell phone through special parental control settings.
Creating your own animated film is great fun, but it is also time-consuming and you need the right technical equipment such as a tripod and a tablet. There are alternatives to the cartoon studio in the children’s room on the net, with which your child can create their own cartoon on the computer.
With an online animation studio you can quickly create your own movie. In a preview window, you can edit the individual images that will later be played back one after the other. Only very small changes are made to the figures and objects per frame so that movements appear smooth when played back. With a mouse click all objects can be dragged and moved smaller and larger. There are three online animation studios, all of which invite you to make animated films on the net and some of which have different functions.
In the animation studio of JUKI on Kindersache there is a variety of colorful figures and backgrounds. Here your child can also insert music and add sounds to the actions; whether snoring, footsteps or hiccups. There are even elements that move: With falling leaves or pattering rain, your child has the opportunity to determine the season in their own cartoon.
In Trickino, not only can existing characters and objects be accessed, but your child can also draw objects themselves in the drawing studio, which other children can then use for their animated film. Finally, the animated film is created in the animation studio. With Tickino, your child has the additional option to upload audios and even edit them on multiple audio tracks.
This page was developed from an animated film project with students: Trickmisch – The mobile language laboratory. They drew their own figures and objects and created animated films using the Legetrick technique. At trixmix.tv, all children can create their own animated film online.
Your child can use an infinite number of drawings here: from the stovepipe, to the lawn mower, to the screwdriver. The icons are sorted by topics, and there is also a search function. Of course, there is also a large number of colorful background images and some audios and sounds that can be inserted.
On all the presented sites your child can publish their own cartoon and also view the works of other children. Overall, the platforms offer a simple, yet creative alternative to traditional animation. Maybe that’s a good place to start before you start filming in your own child’s room.
Digital media and analog leisure activities can be wonderfully combined with Quiver. If your child likes coloring and you want to show them the possibilities of digital media at the same time, this app is a lot of fun.
Quiver is based on the principle of augmented reality. This is called augmented reality. You may know this from the game Pokémon Go. You look at something through the smartphone camera and figures and objects appear on the screen against the real, filmed background. Quiver brings to life characters that you have previously colored on a sheet of paper. There are dancing bears, speeding cars and some more.
Quiver is recommended for children between 6 and 8 years.
If you want to try this out, you will need the Quiver coloring sheets (Coloring Packs). These can be downloaded and printed for free or for a fee from the quivervision.com site. Also, the “Quiver – 3D Coloring App” must be installed on the smartphone or tablet. The app is available for free for Android and Apple devices. For special coloring templates, there are additional free apps with “Quiver Fashion” and “Quiver Masks”. The app “Quiver Education” costs money and is intended for learning and school.
First, your child should color the printed coloring pages. Then open the app and allow camera access. Also, you have to choose which Coloring Pack you want to play in the app. These can be selected and then automatically load into the app. Then you get started by tapping the butterfly icon at the bottom center. The image appears on the display of the tablet or phone and the character comes to life. Certain symbols in the picture make the character do things like score a goal when you tap the soccer ball.
Quiver is an app from New Zealand that is available in German. The app is simple and easy to understand. The website is only in English, but still easy to understand.
The providers of the app quite openly cooperate with various companies. That’s why there are painting templates from car manufacturers, a cafe chain and other companies. If you would like to print these templates for your child, you can use this as an opportunity to talk to him about advertising.
However, there are also many ad-free templates. Look at them beforehand and make a pre-selection for your child. When selecting, look for the icon at the top right of each template package. This indicates whether you can download it for free (FREE) or not ($). Payment is made via the respective app store. Certain templates (Fashion and Masks) can only be played with the special Quiver apps.
The app is a lot of fun and a great introduction to virtual worlds, especially for younger children. With your help, they can learn that not everything you see on the screen has to be real.
The neighbor told me about it the other day: She found a warning letter in her mailbox saying that she should pay € 3,000 in damages. Allegedly, the family’s Internet connection was used to illegally download a game that is usually only available for purchase in online stores.
Adults, teenagers and even children use the Internet to access music, games or movies. There are many streaming platforms and online stores where you can access a wide range of media for a fee. But the Internet also offers opportunities for those who do not want to pay for them. You exchange files with other users over a network without money.
File-sharing networks (also known as “filesharing” or “peer-to-peer” systems) are computer programs that allow people to share digital content such as games or music with other users online. To do this, you install a free program on your computer. This is not forbidden for the time being. But downloading games, music or the like that are protected by copyright is not allowed!
Most creative works are protected by copyright. That is, whoever created the work gets to decide what to do with it. If you do not have permission from the copyright owner (or other rights holder) to use a work, you are not allowed to reproduce or download that content.
There are file-sharing networks where it is not clear where the individual content comes from and who has the rights to it. So, before downloading content from file-sharing sites, you should take a close look at them according to the following points. If some of these apply, it is better to leave them alone.
Do you suspect that your child (secretly) obtains or offers music, games or other content via an illegal file-sharing site. Then you should definitely talk to him about it and explain that this is prohibited. There may even be criminal consequences, such as a warning letter with (sometimes high) fees.
If you have already received such a letter, do not simply respond to it, but do not ignore it either. Contact an attorney or the consumer center in your area for advice. The demands are not always reasonable.
Files from illegal file-sharing networks can also spread malware or viruses. To be on the safe side, you should research and use legal streaming services online together with your child. You can also search for listings that fall under a “Creative Commons” license. This is so-called “free content”, where the author himself grants his work extended rights of use. You can find more information on this at iRights info and Klicksafe, for example.
Your child is approximately between 6 and 12 years old and already on the Internet? Children of this age should be accompanied by adults when surfing. Make sure your child only gets to websites that are safe and suitable for children. Germany has a comparatively uniquely large and diverse children’s website landscape. Do you and your children know and use them? So-called children’s search engines are quite well known. If you enter a search term, you are usually referred to websites that are specifically aimed at children. The best-known German children’s search engine is fragFINN. There are many other web offers for children. You can find out how to recognize a good children’s site and how child-friendly your child’s favorite site is. We have compiled the most important criteria for good children’s sites for you:
If your child surfs on good children’s sites, he or she can learn how to recognize reputable websites. If your child would like to find out in a playful way how fit and safe he or she already is on the Internet, he or she can take the “internet license” at the Internet ABC: To the surfing license quiz
Kindersache.de is an Internet service for children of the German Children’s Fund. The website features current and child-friendly news, the JUKI video portal, an animated film studio and numerous hands-on activities for children.
Here, children will find age-appropriate information and interactive offerings, e.g. They can
The topic of children’s rights is given a particularly large amount of space at kindersache.de: It is described in a child-friendly way, what it is at all and which children’s rights there are.
In the “Join in” section, children can become active themselves: Write an article or a story, create a cartoon, upload their own video or tell a joke. More fun is provided by various games and puzzles on the site.
Kindersache.de is particularly suitable for children, as all content is selected and reviewed by media educators. Also the exchange with others is safe, because comments and etc. are checked before publication. In this way, children learn about the opportunities for participation on the Internet in a protected space.
As with all services used by children up to the age of 12, you should also find out about kindersache.de and ideally explore the site together with your child. It is important for your child to share their experiences with you. Talking about the content on kindersache.de, such as children’s rights, promotes your child’s autonomy and knowledge. .
With Blinde Kuh , children can learn how to use a search engine in a safe surfing space, because only children’s sites are displayed.
Blinde Kuh is one of the oldest and best known search engines just for children in Germany. By entering keywords, your child can search for a lot of different and safe content here or browse through different topics.
Based on a safety-tested catalog, you get child-friendly search results. The catalog is created by an editorial team with the help of technical means. In addition to web pages, videos are also displayed in the search results.
Under the button “News” you can find the latest and interesting news for children. In the “Join in” section, your child can send in stories, reports or reports they have written themselves. There are also games and information about safety on the net.
Click here to go directly to Blinde Kuh: www.blindekuh.de
More info for parents is also available: www.blinde-kuh.de/faqs/index.html
Children’s search engines are a good introduction to the world of the Internet. They can be a good preparation for using common and well-known search engines. The pre-testing of all content provides a very high level of security for your child. Nevertheless, you should accompany your child, especially when using it for the first time, and explore the search engine together. This also allows important functions for the search to be explained in more detail.
If your child finds a page among the results that scares him/her, he/she can report it using the “Report page” button. The alarms received are checked daily. Your child also has the opportunity to suggest websites. The media education team checks the pages and can approve them for the children’s search engine if necessary.
For more tips on how to use the Blinde Kuh, check out this video:
(Source: kindersache.de/bereiche/juki)
Are you or your child looking for inspiration for exciting websites that are also kid-friendly? ThenSeitenstark is the right thing!
Seitenstark.de is a children’s website that lists and presents a variety of child-friendly Internet sites. These pages deal with many different topics, such as the environment and nature, music and film, art and culture, politics, religion. Seitenstark is an association of now more than 60 children’s sites that are united by high standards of quality and protection of children and young people in the media.
In addition, Seitenstark provides important information on the topic of “Security on the Internet”. Your child will learn more about the Internet in general, about bullying and will receive advice on how to handle their own data.
When you gradually release your child more independently into the world of the Internet, he or she should already have learned a few rules and have safe places to go to find offers suitable for children. For this, Seitenstark is a great option.
The website is divided into a children’s section and a section for parents and teachers. You can let your child surf alone in the kids’ area with a clear conscience, which gives them confidence and teaches them media literacy. In principle, however, you should ensure that the discussed media use times are adhered to and that you remain in communication with your child. And you yourself can also get information on the site.
