Saturday, March 8, 2008

Girls and Gaming Webliography

A gender inequality still exists relative to technology – and gaming in particular. The following web resources are likely to engage girls, and boys will enjoy some of them too (marked with *). Suffice to say, blindly e-searching using the terms “girls + gaming” can get into very risqué areas, so gaming should an opportunity for adults to work and enjoy with students.

Links4Kids: Girls Only
http://www.links4kids.co.uk/girlsonly.htm
Lots of great web links, some of which include games; the website as a whole has a section on games that could be used for all kinds of children

Girl Scouts: Girls Only
http://www.gogirlsonly.org/games/
Girl Scouts has proactively sought ways to encourage girls to explore technology; these are fun games for middle school girls in particular

American Girl
http://www.americangirl.com/
This website for American Girl fans includes games and quizzes (be careful of the commercial aspects though)

MyPopStudio
http://www.mypopstudio.com/
Want girls to experience different types of literacy in an interactive way? This is a great site for them.

*Digital Films
http://www.digitalfilms.com
This is a free web-based program that enables users to make a simple animated story

*Toondo
http://www.toondo.com
Not exactly a game, but this comic creation tool is fun and game-like; it is similar to Digital Films

Zoey’s Room
http://www.zoeysroom.com/
A site for middle school girls that encourages activities in science, math and technology

Girls Tech
http://girlstech.douglass.rutgers.edu/
This site for adults helps them evaluate digital resources for girls, particularly in terms of science and technology; their sample sites provide a starting place for appropriate interactive educational fun

*PowerPoint Game Template Resources
http://www.powerpointtutorial.org/directory/powerpoint-game-template.html
Links to several kinds of templates, including educational games; librarians may want to choose suitable templates for students to create their own games (or work with a female student committee to choose the best templates to use)

Gamer Girls Unite
http://www.gamergirlsunite.com/news.php
Empowering young women gamers, this site might be useful if the library advises a teen girl gamer club

*Yahoo Games
http://games.yahoo.com/
Yahoo has a huge assortment of games; this is another opportunity for girls to explore sites (with adult supervision) to identify fun, appropriate games for their female peers

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