The Internet Is Born: A Network of Networks

1. What your child learns and why

The internet is not one big computer but many networks (a school's, a home's, a library's…) joined by common rules — a protocol (TCP/IP). Your child learns three dates: 29 Oct 1969 — the first message over ARPANET, “lo”; 1 Jan 1983 — ARPANET switches to the common rules; 1989–1993 — the Web (proposal, software, free for everyone on 30 Apr 1993). And that the Web (the pages) is not the same as the internet. The dates were checked against the Computer History Museum, CERN and the Internet Society — see “Sources” in the lesson.

2. Three questions for dinner

• “How does a computer in one network send a message to a computer in a completely different network?”
• “Are the internet and the Web the same thing? What else travels over the internet besides pages?”
• “Networks understand each other because they agreed on a common language. When did you manage with someone who speaks a different language?”

3. 10 minutes together, no screen — “Postal Workers Between Tables”

1. Three tables (or rooms) are three “networks” with made-up names. Write a short word on slips — one syllable each, with a number on the back.
2. Common rule (protocol): “At the top — which table it is for, at the bottom — the number.” The postal workers (routers) carry the slips by different paths — walking, not running.
3. The receiving table puts the word together by the numbers. Then one table changes the rule (numbers as colours) — what happens? Close one path with a “STOP” slip — which path did they take?

4. What success looks like

• Your child says in words: “the internet = a network of networks with common rules”.
• Shows on the map why more paths are needed, and why a network with other rules cannot join.

5. Common difficulties

• “One person invented the internet” → many people and teams worked on it; Tim Berners-Lee created the Web, not the internet.
• “The internet = Wi-Fi or a browser” → Wi-Fi is a way to reach the router; a browser is a program for the Web.

Say: “We don't need to remember every date — the idea of common rules is what matters.” Avoid comparisons with other children.

6. Safety

The map in the lesson is made up and your child types nothing. In the game without a screen, use made-up words only — no real names, addresses, phone numbers or secret codes. The lesson does not teach how to change settings on a real router — an adult does that.

7. Where to go next

Back: DB-SV-08 “The Modem and BBS: Computers by Telephone” · Next: DB-SV-10 “The Mobile World: Cells, Towers and Generations” · About packets: DB-IB-03. Ask a grandparent: “When did you first use the internet?”

You don't need to know the answer. Say: “Let's find out together.”