Published: Monday, June 21, 1999

Internet offers educational and fun places that click with kids.

The kids are out of school, and you're climbing the walls while they're writing on them. Mercifully, it doesn't take long to round up a handful of Web sites that post summer projects -- some don't even require a computer. Other sites offer to take the kids off your hands for a while with online interactive stories, tours, games and puzzles. Hang in there -- it's just 10 weeks before school opens again.

www.activitiesforkids.com/summer/calendar.htm

The design and presentation are simple but don't judge this site by looks alone. This page is well-structured and organized to help the entire family become Internet savvy in just 15 minutes a day. Sounds like a fad diet, you say? Well, exercises here mix surfing basics such as cut, copy and paste functions with virtual field trips to places including the Smithsonian Institution. As the weekday programs roll through the summer, kids build computer knowledge and the side trips become more varied. Even if the kids don't take a shine to this site, parents could benefit from a few sessions of its basic Internet training.