NOW CLOSED: Share with Kleenex your favourite websites and apps - you could win JL vouchers

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by the team at Kleenex to find out about your favourite websites or apps which can keep you or your family entertained.

They say "We know there's no site better than Mumsnet for some social support when you're feeling under the weather, but we're looking to find out what websites or apps keep you and the family occupied in your down time. For example, are you a fan of video streaming sites? Do you use the web to catch up on some light reading or the latest gossip, and if so where? Have you found the perfect online game to share? And importantly, what sites or apps keep the children entertained in a fun (and safe) environment? And why do you like the one(s) you like?! Call it our online survey of 2011 - share your favourites on this thread and you may also discover a new site from other MNers "

So please take a few minutes to share your (or your DC's) favourite website or app on this thread, along with the reasons for liking it/them so much. Everyone who does so will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 John Lewis voucher and two runners up will get a £50 voucher.

Please note - if you add your comments on this thread - Kleenex may use your comment in other media - (for example: print (magazines/ newspapers) and online). They won't use your MN name. Comments may also be featured on the Kleenex pages on Mumsnet.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

[secretsanta233]

Goodness me....
Mathletics for school age dc's. Web.
Cbeebies games
Animal match app has taught my two yr old the alphabet
Pop Maths app is great for quick Maths
Club penguin for safe playing. Web

[inmysparetime]

My kids are unashamed geeks, their favourite app is the Met office weather app, failing that, skyview, which shows you which constellations are in a given direction. Oh, and Google maps, endless fun there.
I like the MN app of course (I'm using it right now), and find the scout association app invaluable when DS comes home with random badges

[ScorpionQueen]

It has to be the NORAD site- good in the run up to Christmas but GREAT for Christmas Eve. The girls love watching Santa travel across the world delivering presents and know that when he gets to Eastern Africa it's time for bed, as he is getting close.

www.noradsanta.org/en/

[Jux]

My absolutely favourite favourite site (apart from MN of course ) is Wolfram Alpha, and also the Khan Academy, xkcd and lolcats (icanhascheeseburger)

Apps are Kaplinsky security, flashlight, skyview

[Jux]

DH: likes ogling guitars on e-bay, mainly, but also watches guitarists on YouTube (Hendrix mainly). Those two will keep him quiet nicely occupied for hours, literally.

DD tends to use iPlayer and its cohorts, while playing music on iTunes and doing her home works, possibly adding into the mix something from a horrible pink site with girls' games on it, or bubbleshooter.

[EmLH]

My DD loves the fireman Sam app but I think the best one she has is Tozzle, which is a drag and drop puzzle game. Keeps her busy for a good 20 mins and I like to think it's educational as well as fun :)

[nevergoogle]

for the kids:
cbeebies
cbbc
lego
you tube

for me:
mumsnet, facebook, pinterest.

that's all websites though. i have no clue about apps.

[CheeryCherry]

For me : MN, FB, YouTube, Pre-Loved, Ebay, Etsy, iplayer, Local news
For the children : YouTube (esp the animal clips), First News, Angry Birds, RSPCA and RSPB sites.
No apps yet in this house!

[SparklyCloud]

Mumsnet
Youtube
Dailymail (I know, I know )
Postsecret
Money Saving Expert

[katz]

When our sky dish wasn't working for a week and we have no normal areial and so on regular tv, I discovered all the tv aps. They are all great.

My favourite ap has to be FaceTime, it's great much better than Skype and means keeping in touch with family scattered across the globe is easier.

[HavePatience]

Apps: StoryBuddy, toontastic, comixer, peppa pig, monkey preschool lunchbox and other apps with this monkey - math one particularly good, Math Bingo - for dc
Oh and NORAD an portable north pole (PNP)
I like Facebook, mn, eBay, weather channel app, Wunderlist most

[HavePatience]

*and

[MakeTeaNotWar]

DD now 16 months loves to play peekaboo barn and peekaboo jungle - really fun, interactive and teaches her animal noises and sounds. Fantastic distraction tool

[RustyBear]

My favourite time wasters (after MN, of course) are logic game Marple, where you use clues to work out the location of sets of blocks, and Little Things, where you have to find pictures of little things inside pictures of bigger things. Pictureka is another good 'finding' app - both good for kids.

I love the Guardian's Eyewitness app for amazing photos, mondo for card games, my favourite word games are Moxie2, wurdle and Deduce.

FlipBoard is good for bringing together and browsing my social networking stuff - blogs, Twitter, Facebook and News feeds and presenting it in a magazine format.

[SarahFim]

shopstyle.co.uk is great for armchair browsing - you can key in what you're after and it will parade a whole load of items for you to choose from.

makeupalley.com does useful beauty product reviews.

Ds likes the free design a house sites/apps - sorry don't know the names.

[Lotstodo]

Our family favourite app. is the tfl app. that lets us all know what time the next bus is (we only have one bus route where we live). I click on it and it tells me when the next two or three buses are going to be along. I use it to get to work and my children use it to get to school. When I am at the bus stop and I know that in three minutes time I am going to see that big red object purr into view I feel quite smug knowing that I have been able to time my hair brushing, coffee drinking and chasing everybody around to the very last minute before I rush out of the house and down the road.

I feel like telling everybody at the bus stop exactly how long they have got to wait and it's so accurate. I love it.

[SanTEEClaus]

For me: Facebook, Twitter, various blogs that I read through Netvibes

For son: CBeeBies, Sesame Street and Thomas the Tank Engine

Apps: I don't play a lot of games on my phone except for Words with Friends. I do use it as a tool, though and couldn't be without Errands, which is a to do list app.

My son loves Toddler Taming on my phone.

[MissRee]

Step son loves the Christmas countdown app that tells you how many sleeps til Christmas... he's been adding on 7 sleeps every time to see how many sleeps til his baby brother/sister comes

[HazeltheMcWitch]

Websites for me: pinterest, bbc news, Food blogs and gossip websites
For all: You Tube, especially for animal vids for the kids.
Apps for me: Evernote to get/stay organised, Pulse
Apps for kids: peekaboo barn and peekaboo jungle, talking Tom Cat and 'droid yourself' (where you make Android-y versions of people, choose their clothes etc) - oddly popular!

[Wigeon]

DD1 (aged 3) likes

Poisson Rouge - lovely games and somehow it feels educational because it's in French ...

CBeebies games, enjoying going round Big and Small's house at the moment, and playing various little games, especially one where you make Big and Small play instruments. Perfectly pitched for her age and computer literacy.

Knee Bouncers - very easy for pre-schoolers to use, although most of them are no longer free.

I like
The Daily Mash - current affairs satire - very funny.

[racingheart]

Our family all love You Tube, especially for short, offbeat films and cartoons, or favourite songs.

We also enjoy playing games on Freerice - the children love seeing how many bowls of rice they can earn for charity.

The children interrupt us join us in playing Mahjong Solitaire and Bookworm on Zylom games site, and spot matches and words far quicker than we do.

[Spirael]

The Ocado app conveniently lets me fit food shopping into my bus commute. Such a time saver!

[HavePatience]

Oh yes, both ocado and tesco apps! I couldn't fit everything in without those! I can online grocery shop while doing other chores... I could even use a Kleenex tissue at the same time

[ChippyMinton]

DC go to youtube for learning songs by heart, the annoying orange, lego animations (esp. The Apprentice) and the italian man went to malta (DS2's party piece) . I like it for getting instructions and spare parts for fixing my kitchen appliances!

Other DC faves: Moshi Monsters, Club Penguin,the Scalextric site for virtual track building, Lego, Brownies, Cub Scouts, Poisson Rouge, MiniClip

DH likes his sports teams' sites and streaming matches.

I'm usually here, shopping, MSE, Huffington Post.

Elf Yourself is brilliant fun for all.

[pixierara]

I love twitter - for me, it's the modern day equivalent of chatting over the garden fence! Immediate, small talk but that which friendships are forged! My favourite app is Kindle as it allows me to download books to read in bed every night. The children like games (any!) and are quite taken with a multiplication app that allows them to compete against themselves!

I also LOVE blogs and blogging!!