<p>As a new homeschooling parent, finding online learning resources that are safe, well-designed, and fun for my kids is important - but inexplicably difficult. That's why I was thrilled to learn about Ask.com's expansion and redesign of <a href="http://www.AskKids.com">AskKids.com</a>.</p>

<p>I've already found Ask.com itself to be a great search engine for my kids, with its suggested searches and images in the sidebars.</p>

<p>But AskKids.com gives me even more confidence. Plus, there's a SUPER FUN feature on the front page.</p>

<p><img alt="askkids0808.jpg" src="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/askkids0808.jpg" width="580" /></p>

<p>At the bottom right corner, there's a box with a pen, pencil and highlighter. You can grab one of the utensils with your mouse and draw directly on the page! It rocks. There's also a tab for "stickers" that you can put on your drawing.</p>

<p><img alt="askkids0808draw.jpg" src="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/askkids0808draw.jpg" width="422" height="439" /></p>

<p>Moving on to the search side of things, on the front page, in addition to the traditional search box, there are 5 categories kids can go directly to: Schoolhouse, Movies, Games, Video, and Images.</p>

<p>Clicking on one of the categories brings up even more options along with traditional search results.</p>

<p><img alt="askkids0808schoolhouse.jpg" src="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/askkids0808schoolhouse.jpg" width="580" /></p>

<p>Conducting a traditional search was much like doing so on Ask.com There's only one sidebar, on the left, and no images.</p>

<p><img alt="askkids0808searchresults.png" src="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/askkids0808searchresults.png" width="580" /></p>

<p>I do have two criticisms:<br />
1. The design theme is built around a traditional school setting. Kids are so much more than school. The background design of notebook paper is not a great way to reach kids, who learn much better through visual and interactive approahches and are far more tech-savvy than traditional, old school (pun fully intended) educational methods.</p>

<p>2. The search results have ads taking up a good portion of the space. The same criticism can be made of the Ask.com page. Being user-friendly and not ad friendly almost always wins the day and it would be nice if Ask could figure out a more user-friendly way to make the moolah.</p>

<p>Still, the homepage design is at least better than the old version:</p>

<p><img alt="oldaskkids.png" src="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/oldaskkids.png" width="580"/></p>

<p>What do you think of the new AskKids.com? Leave us your impressions in the comments.</p>

<p>Related Reading:<br />
<a href="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080514-100043">Student Searches: The Top 15 Searches for the K-12 Set</a><br />
<a href="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080310-092054">The New Multitaskers: Kids Split Attention Between TV, Internet</a><br />
<a href="http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=1381161">Content for Kids</a><br />
<a href="http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625510">Learning from Our Kids</a><br />
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