[WATCH] Bee bots and snakes and ladders help children stay safe online

Keeping children safe online

A cyber security educational campaign, aimed at helping children stay safe online, was launched today.

The campaign, which is taking place in all primary schools in Malta, uses games to teach children about internet security.

A visit for the media at the St Ignatius College primary school in Siggiewi showed classes using the popular snakes and ladders game to learn what to do and what to avoid while surfing the web.

The children use a robotic bee which they can make go from one section of the game board to the other, following either a snake or a ladder.

Each section of the board teaches the children something related to security on the internet, cyber security campaign programme manager Katia Bonello said.

"A snake signifies something to avoid - such as giving your password to someone - while a ladder shows something done correctly," she said, "Through this, children are taught how to act while online."

The same game an initiative between the Education Ministry and Malta Information Technology Agency is being replicated throughout other schools.