Are mice kosher?

17 April 2008

By Ronit Roccas

Kerpoof makes a big effort to get all the kids to be creative. There are many Web sites where the little ones can draw from backgrounds, pasteup and animation, and there are others that help users create very short and simple animated films. But none of them is as special and enjoyable as Kerpoof, where you can also tell a story with pictures by adding captions in Hebrew. The drawings provided are nice, and there are also an options for drawing freehand and for printing them or sharing with friends. If you register - the process is short - you can save your work until your next session.

http://www.kerpoof.com

Gift a drawing

At Sketchswap there are no backgrounds or colorful stickers provides. There aren't even any colors, only a black brush that draws with one line. It is surprising what adults and children can do with it, though, especially when they learn that their drawing will be sent afterward into cyberspace, and from there, at some point, will be sent as a present to someone else, in a nearby or faraway country. In return, they will receive a drawing done by someone else that appears before their eyes, line by line. You can add text - in English only! - and pictures that are unsuitable for children are prohibited. The site managers screen the drawings before sending them on.

http://www.sketchswap.com

Home page

"My first home page" was created around two years ago up by Efrat Friedlich for her own daughter. It is an excellent place for young children who want to play on the computer like their older siblings. There are no original games here, only links to games created on other sites, mostly American and Japanese ones. However, this content is so well organized that even Hebrew-only children can play almost independently. The home page, designed in a very clear and appealing manner, is divided into categories such as games, challenges, artwork, puzzles, princesses and little ones. Each category is full of games and some have a brief list of Hebrew instructions.

http://www.myfirsthomepage.co.il

Games

In addition to being a convenient and direct way to access games on the Internet, "my first home page" provides links to several of the best children's games sites on the Web. One of them, also an Israeli site, provides similar direct links to free games collected from numerous places on the Web. Here the older siblings will also find something to do.

http://www.netgames.co.il

A mouse or a piano

This virtual piano is rather simple: just click on the keys using the mouse or the keyboard. The tones try to be a little more complex and like a synthesizer it can also be made to sound like a flute, saxophone or guitar.

http://tinyurl.com/9nvj

Symphony orchestra

The b-Tony synthesizer is a little more complex: you can play electronic music on it using a combination of mouse and keyboard. There is also an option for adding in vocals, a drum machine and a recording feature.

http://www.tonyb.org

Drive slowly

A few fine models of car: Change their color, print, cut out and glue together.

http://www.papercars.net/cars.html

Second language

Even on vacation the kids can work on their English skills. Kindersay offers mainly reading out loud of letters and words in very basic English, while Starfall is more thorough: After learning the alphabet the little learners can hear the words read out consonant by consonant. The real fun starts when you click on the cartoon images: They change and frolic with a click of the mouse. Children who are more advanced in their language studies can read entire stories, listen to narrators reading them out loud, word by word, and even learn about Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gaugin and Marc Chagall.

http://www.kindersay.com/englishwords

http://www.starfall.com