I'm honestly asking if anyone has a chrome browser app idea or a potentially just some type of interface where I could potentially safely let me kids roam, I could give them an allowance to buy certain games to support the developers, and everyone wins.

I ask because I'm 33 and I had unrestricted access to the internet (not all good, not all bad), but I don't want to limit my kids to boring educational games or just their tablet. I see the gap in their education is even if they don't fully want to learn how to code they should have access to the sandbox type of internet where they can explore online, educational or entertainment games, but in a safe way where they won't get traumatized from clicking on the wrong thing.

I think the geriatric community would benefit from this too - especially brain, memory,and Demet related games. 

I just ask because I'm not a full luddite, but I don't have the connections or capacity to learn how to do this type of things myself. I am quite sad that my childhood when I had access to jumpstart, neopets, zoo and dino tycoon, and even the original oregon trail might have been peak educational fun games. Today even my kids amazon tablets are full of ai generated advertisements that makes them put it down more than actually play it. 

TLDR;

The Problem: Modern internet access for kids is broken. It's either completely locked down and boring, or a minefield of tracking, AI-generated ads, and explicit content.

The Concept: A custom Chrome app or extension that serves as a safe, curated "sandbox" browser interface. It would recreate the magic of the early 2000s web (Neopets, JumpStart, Oregon Trail) where users can freely explore web games without the risk of a wrong click leading to something awful.

Key Features:

• Safe Exploration: A visual, ad-free portal of approved web games and HTML5 projects (like the ones hosted here on itch!).
• Parent-Managed Wallet: A built-in allowance system allowing kids to purchase games or tip creators safely, teaching them digital literacy and supporting indie devs.
• Dual Audience: A simplified version of this interface would be incredibly beneficial for seniors dealing with memory issues or dementia who need safe, easy access to brain games without confusing pop-ups.

I don't have the capacity to build this myself, but I feel like the market is desperate for it. Are there existing open-source projects doing this? Would love to know if any developers see potential in a tool like this.

The minimum age to use Itch is 13 years. Adding some kind of protection layer on top, to only show the k-12 items would be a curation task on the order of magnitude, that just making a new site entirely would be easier.

Each comment section on it's own would already violate k-12, as it is bascially barely supervised interaction with strangers on the internet. Also, there is no wallet or anything of the sort, that you can charge. There is not even a shopping basket. You cannot give your kids an allowance to spend on Itch. The customer needs to be legally able to enter the purchase contract. And those cannot be your kids, as they do not have a credit card or a paypal account, and it is not allowed to pay with someone else's credentials.

The target audience of Itch is not even 13-17 years old. It is people that are comfortable and capable of installing indie games and understand the risks and shortcomings of them. Risks and shortcomings include malware, badly programmed things, bad games, unfinished games, amateur developers and all sorts of quirks Itch has, that other sites do differently.

I think GameJolt tried to aim for that teen age group, but they radically changed a few years ago and I doubt they are suited for k-12. What Itch is rather good at, they do not do the aggressive advertisement thing, so often seen on pages.

If you seek a safeish environment for kids and video games, have a look at Scratch. Or, of course you can try the parental control features of a curated environment like Steam. Games on Itch are not curated. Apart from vague adult game separation, there is no age rating, not even a recommendation on Itch. Actually the most popular games are horror games. Which are unsuited for k-12.

Highly unlikely, there is a lot of legal requirements (that are getting stricter as time goes on) with regards to how children access content on the internet. That’s why many companies that build products for younger audiences only that and nothing else, since the differences in products would be substantial.

I appreciate your kindness

You raise a really important point about balancing open exploration with safety. A curated sandbox environment that allows kids to experiment with coding, educational games, and interactive learning while filtering inappropriate content—would be ideal. Integrating adaptive difficulty, content moderation, and memory/brain-training modules could also extend the benefits to older adults with cognitive needs.

I'm a millenial but even I'm not this naive. Youtube kids is full of nsfw, roblox is full of nsfw and probably half the stuff you sit your kid in front of is unmoderated. There doesn't exist "kid friendly" spaces like the old days. It's not financially viable because its hard to moderate so most "kid friendly" apps are in fact not kid friendly. Even stuff like disney can be bypassed. Itch.io is literally the wild west of the internet, it's like sitting a kid in front of OG newgrounds if you want a comparison you can understand.