Short Shoremen
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For parents and grown-ups

Short Shoremen is a free place for kids to play games, color pictures and find Little Orbits, a science cartoon for ages three to nine.

Age groups

Games are sorted into Little Kids (ages 3–5), Kids (ages 6–8) and Big Kids (ages 9–12). Every game card shows its ages, and the age buttons above the games show just the ones that fit.

Comics

The Comics section is for Big Kids (ages 9–12): short stories about dockworkers, power line crews, bridge builders and a hard-hat superhero, each with a safety or teamwork tip. The pictures are made with the help of AI tools and reviewed by a real person.

Made for kids by a retired longshoreman. Nothing on this site will ever be charged for. It is 100% free.

Privacy: no tracking, at all

  • No sign-ups, no accounts and no forms. We never ask your child for a name, email or anything else.
  • No ads, no analytics and no tracking scripts.
  • Games and coloring run entirely in the browser. Nothing your child does is sent anywhere.
  • The four Big Kids games remember a high score on this device only (the browser's local storage), so kids can try to beat it. It is never sent anywhere, and clearing your browser data erases it. Nothing else is stored.
  • Clips in the Watch and Safety Lessons sections play from this site only, never automatically with sound. The Little Orbits button opens YouTube's own site, which has its own privacy policy.

Coloring pages

Every coloring page has a Print button with a plain black-line sheet sized for US Letter paper.

About the cartoons

Little Orbits characters are voiced with AI text-to-speech, and a real person reviews and approves every episode before it is published. Science facts are checked against trusted sources such as NASA and NOAA.

How it is made

Games and cartoons are made with the help of AI tools.

Screen time

The games for younger kids have no timers and no losing. The Big Kids games have levels, scores and some timed rounds for a real challenge, but no endless reward loops. Play a bit, then go play outside!