kids – PSafe Blog https://www.psafe.com/en/blog Articles and news about Mobile Security, Android, Apps, Social Media and Technology in general. Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:49:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/cropped-psafe_blog_purple-shield-32x32.png kids – PSafe Blog https://www.psafe.com/en/blog 32 32 <![CDATA[How to Make Sure Your Kids Don’t Pick Up Viruses Online]]> https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/make-sure-kids-dont-pick-viruses-online/ Thu, 20 Apr 2017 14:00:05 +0000 https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/?p=9887 You could be super careful about viruses and other computer bugs, but if your kids aren’t well-versed in online safety, your system could be infected anyway. Luckily, our computer-literate and digital-native children are skilled at all things technical, and staying safe online might come as second nature to them. In any event, teach them these five tips so they don’t pick up viruses when they’re not under your watchful eye.

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  1. Use DFNDR’s Anti-Hacking Feature

A complete anti-virus system like DFNDR helps keep your device safe from malicious software. The Anti-Hacking feature helps keep users protected from giving credentials to fake websites and malicious sites. Once activated, it will send you warnings about the sites that intend to scam you. Tell your kids to pay attention to warnings the system sends about sketchy programs and websites. Click above to protect your kids from malicious websites and allow them to browse the Internet safely.

Read More: Don’t Let Your Kids Infect Your Wi-Fi with the Latest Viruses

  1. Remind Your child to Always Log Out of a Website or Device

It’s important to remind kids that they need to log-out of computers, devices, websites, and apps when they’re finished using them. Since many children use computers at school, problems can arise if they leave open their credentials in public places like these. Malicious individuals could easily take advantage of their personal information.

  1. Set up Parental Controls

Many problems can arise because children don’t have the same degree of impulse control that you do. Remember to set (to the extent that it’s possible) parental controls on your children’s devices. Most products, including computers, tablets, gaming devices, and phones, have parental controls that can limit your child’s access on the device.

  1. Teach Your Children to be Skeptical of Unknown Senders

Your children should never click on unknown links or pop-up ads, or open emails when they come from a sender from whom they are not familiar. Let them know that they should be wary of anything unfamiliar online. Besides, if they’re unsure about the origins of an ad or link, they’re better off not clicking on it.

  1. Give Them a Break

Kids, like adults, make mistakes. Your child very well might download a virus onto your computer or phone by mistake, and, if they’re too nervous to tell you they’ve messed up, you won’t be able to remedy the situation. Communication and trust with your child can help if he or she mistakenly downloads a virus. Once you know the truth, it can be fixed by running a virus scan.

 

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<![CDATA[How Parents Can Set Parental Controls on Their Kids’ Phones]]> https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/facebook-app-draining-phones-battery/ Thu, 30 Mar 2017 14:00:25 +0000 https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/?p=9294 As your children learn to navigate the Internet, it’s important to teach them safe practices for navigating the Web. You’ll want to teach them how to create strong passwords, how to check for a safe website connection, and how to avoid malware online. Sometimes, however, kids slip up and make a mistake. Accidents happen, but it would be nice to prevent them if you could, right?

In order to prevent your kids from accidentally installing malware on your shared device, or visiting a malicious website, utilize DFNDR’s Anti-Hacking feature. This feature is a safe-browsing feature that will block malicious websites when activated. It also prevents phishing-attacks, and it will notify you of any malicious activity before you enter any personal information on a website. Click here to activate this feature so that you and your kids can browse the Web safely:

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Read More: How Your Android Can Trick Your Kids into Learning

This is just the first step, however, in making the Internet safer for your child. In order to make the Web more kid-friendly, you may also want to add parental control settings on your child’s phone. The newer Android operating systems allow you to have more control over a smartphone, but you can also get an app to manage your child’s online browsing.

How to Add Parental Controls on Your Child’s Android

First, go to the Android’s settings. Select “users,” followed by, “add user or profile.” Then, instead of creating a normal profile, create a “restricted” profile. You’ll need to set up a lock screen for the device (if there isn’t one) and name the profile. You can then choose from a list of apps installed on the device, and pick which ones you don’t want your child to access. You could block them from downloading apps from the Google Play store, for example.

Use an App to Add Parental Controls

There are a lot of apps available for setting up parental controls on your phone (for your child) or your child’s phone. Most of these apps are free to download but do not offer free services, however. Many of them require a monthly or yearly subscription fee. These services block children from inappropriate Web content, such as pornography or violence, usually through a customized browser. Many of them also allow you to view your child’s browsing behavior.

Two of the most popular parental controls apps and services include Net Nanny and Norton Family Parental Control. Both offer a variety of services and vary in price — it all depends on your needs.

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<![CDATA[7 Apps to Use for Homeschooling Your Kids]]> https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/7-apps-use-homeschooling-kids/ Tue, 14 Mar 2017 17:00:36 +0000 https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/?p=8818 If you are like most parents who homeschool your children, you are always on the lookout for useful learning tools. Sure, there are plenty of great textbooks, workbooks, videos, flashcards and websites out there, and they are all appropriate parts of your curriculum. But there are times when you are on the go, or when your student is taking advantage of promised screen-time, when it would be handy to have a list of apps that are not only educational, but also appealing enough to your child that he or she will turn to them again and again. Here are seven of the best parent-tested, kid-approved educational Android apps around.

Read More: All About Google’s Arts and Culture App for Android

  1. Analogies for Kids

We all know that analogies are a key feature that college-bound students are likely to encounter on the SATs. But analogies also help introduce younger children to the basics of analytical thinking and problem solving. This app makes studying the comparisons creative and fun.

  1. Barefoot World Atlas

This is the most complete atlas app available. The interactive 3D globe is a thrilling touch.

  1. Duolingo

A repeat winner of Google Play’s “Best of the Best,” Duolingo helps students studying foreign languages practice their skills anytime, anywhere. Duolingo includes a multitude of different languages and a wide variety of learning levels.

  1. Google Earth

This app helps kids explore the universe — including the Earth’s surface and oceans, as well as the moon, planets, and stars — from the palm of their hand.

  1. Kid Weather

Useful for turning every day events into science and math lessons in a charming, interactive format. Create or follow statistical patterns, learn fun facts, and more.

  1. Math Bingo

This app turns completing math problems into a game. It appeals to the competitive nature hidden inside every student.

  1. Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary

Can’t say it any better than they do: this app has “clear and simple definitions in basic American English from North America’s leading language experts. More usage examples than any other dictionary.”

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<![CDATA[I Am A Witness: Antibullying Emoji Campaign]]> https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/witness-antibullying-emoji-campaign/ Fri, 30 Sep 2016 21:33:36 +0000 https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/?p=4304 There are lots of apps available that can make your life less dangerous. But now kids can support their friends through being bullied — and help to stop it — with a unique set of emojis. Called I Am a Witness, the keyboard is designed to stop bullying by helping kids point out cruelties, which, according to the app, can be remedied simply by someone calling out bullies. Here, we’ll discuss some of the best features — and a few drawbacks — to the I Am a Witness app.

The Purpose
According to the I Am a Witness app, 81% of bullying ends when someone steps in to stop it. That’s the function of the I Am a Witness app. In group chats or private messages on phones, kids can tell friends to stop saying nasty things about other members of the text conversation using an emoji or a sticker. They can also support bullied students by sending them private messages letting them know they aren’t alone.

Read More: 3 Apps to Keep You Safe Walking Alone at Night

The Witness Emojis
There are several types of emojis available, all in a bright and fun pop art style. There are multi-colored staring eyes letting bullies know they are being watched. To support bullied friends, kids can send kind messages like “Stay Cool” or “Don’t Listen” to offer visual sympathy. The app is completely free, so kids don’t have to buy anything to offer their support to bullied peers.

Reviews
Most of the users of I Am Witness really liked the app — it has over a four-star rating in the Google Play store. A number of users say that the app really helps to stop bullying. Not everyone is such a fan, however. Some reviewers say that the app often crashes, while others don’t like that the app asks for too much data from users. Additional keyboard users don’t like that keyboards takes up too much of the phone’s screen

I Am Witness helps your kids support their friends. If you want to make sure your kids can always stick up for their friends, download PSafe Total onto their smartphones. PSafe’s Memory Booster helps them optimize their data, clear out clutter from their storage, and speed up their devices. Kids can have a lot of junk on their phones, and PSafe will help you help them clean.

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<![CDATA[The 6 Best Apps to Keep Toddlers Busy]]> https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/6-best-apps-keep-toddlers-busy/ Wed, 20 Jul 2016 12:22:09 +0000 https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/?p=2240 The one thing that always captivates babies and toddlers is a bright, shiny screen with moving pictures, aka, a smartphone. Whenever I babysat growing up, kids were always reaching for my phone to look at, and it became my go-to to stop my charges from crying or throwing tantrums. Knowing this, app developers have brilliantly jumped on this trend and created a multitude of apps designed to distract little ones and give their parents a moment to breathe. Here are some of the best:

1. Ant Smasher

This game is exactly what it sounds like. The point is to try to smash as many ants with your finger on the screen as possible, while not smashing any bees. The game requires very few motor skills and rewards children with very satisfying splattering visuals and audio. It essentially allows your toddler to poke at the phone for an extended period of time.

2. Fisher-Price

Fisher-Price is responsible for all kinds of non-mobile kids entertainment games and products and it has now expanded its services to include those available on technology. The Fisher-Price app offers a variety of baby games including hide-and-seek games, nursery rhyme games, and counting games. As well as having a wide variety, the app also offers the option of multiplayer if you have a few who want to play at once.

3. Kids Animal Piano

This game combines the mechanics of a piano with the tried and true favorite for all youngsters: making animal noises. Kids Animal Piano allows your babies and toddlers to push different keys and hear a satisfying variety of animals sounds. This allows your youngster to create a musical composition that could realistically be heard in a barnyard.

4. Kids Doodle

Kids Doodle is a drawing app that specializes in bright colors and is easy to use; perfect for young kids. There are about two dozen brush options with different colors and thicknesses and every image can be saved to the device so you can preserve your young one’s masterpieces for all of eternity. The coolest part is a section called “film mode” that allows you to replay all of the different images in a video format.

5. My Talking Angela

Part of the “My Talking” series, these apps feature an animal character that children can talk to, and the character talks back. This app is simple but also involves adorable animal figures and smaller, mini games on the side that teach skills like tooth brushing.

6. Baby Scratch

This is literally a DJ app for toddlers. Kids can touch records that play children’s songs like “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and other classics, causing them to create remixes. There is an option to record your own voice or music which can then be altered as well. This app requires few motor skills and a short attention span.

If you are curious about more of the craziest and weirdest apps out there, check out PSafe’s blog which features articles about all different kinds.

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<![CDATA[How Your Android Can Trick Your Kids into Learning]]> https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/android-can-trick-kids-learning/ Thu, 23 Jun 2016 20:43:23 +0000 https://www.psafe.com/en/blog/?p=1671 You don’t need boring workbooks and practice sheets to ensure your kids steer clear of the dreaded “summer slide.” Here are some ways you can use your Android to make playing, and learning compatible.

Download Educational Games

Let your kids play all the games they want without fearing for their brain cells. Google Play conveniently has an education category, with hundreds of apps to choose from. Consider downloading Cyberchase 3D builder, an action packed geometry game that will keep your kids’ math skills sharp.

For spelling and language reinforcement, check out Word Wow. This challenging, and fast paced word puzzle will keep the kids entertained for hours. The app BrainPOP features an expansive assortment of short movies on topics ranging from history to current events, followed by brief memory-testing quizzes. Your kids will be happy they’re playing, and you’ll be happy they’re learning.

Read more: 4 Educational Android Apps for Young Children

Get The Kids Outside

While there are enough educational games to keep your kids entertained all day, summer is the perfect time for kids to get outside and explore. It may seem counterintuitive, but there are a wide range of apps that can inspire your kids to learn about nature by going outside.

Plum’s Creaturizer, for example, lets kids build unique creatures, and then encourages them to photograph these creatures in their backyards. When the sun goes down, open the SkyView app to make the most out of a night of stargazing. Simply point your phone camera at the sky to identify stars, constellations, and planets. Day or night, your Android can provide the fun outdoor experiences that are central to summer learning.

Make Reading Enjoyable

The importance of summer reading cannot be overemphasized. Fortunately, your Android has several tricks up its sleeve to make reading fun and engaging for kids. Open Google Play to download kid-friendly books of all genres, from fiction to sports. You can also download reading apps, which present books in an interactive format.

For example, WWF Together tells animal stories by combining reading, animation, and stunning images. For younger kids, the app Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim provides a fun way to practice reading skills while also learning about water safety. By giving your kids books that interest them in formats that engage them, you can help your kids develop a passion for reading.

Ready to Learn?

Don’t let your phone’s diminishing memory prevent your kids from learning! Download PSafe TOTAL to maximize your storage space, so you can download enough games, apps, and books to keep the kids sharp all summer.

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