Fun in the Sun

Home > Rediff Guide To The Net > Features Gopika Vaidya Kapoor | April 11, 2003 16:34 IST

If boring summer holidays are driving your children up the wall, switch on your PC "Summer time, and the living is easy," sang Ella Fitzgerald. She would have sung it differently were she to be a mother today, with two kids Gen-X kids to take care of. After a school year packed with regular classes, tuitions, and hobby classes on everything from tap dance to Tai Chi, children suddenly find themselves caught in a vacuum called the summer holidays. "I'm borrrrreeeeddddd!" they shriek. And parents everywhere cringe in fear. Until now, that is. More and more parents have begun to realise that the Internet may be the answer to a child's ennui..... 4 to 40.com, the brainchild of Manpreet Malik, sensitises children to their immediate socio-political-cultural-ecological surroundings. It includes in-depth sections on India, her stories and legends, along with interesting features that attempt to introduce children to their culture and heritage. There's also a lot of information on children's books in all major Indian languages including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya and even Urdu. My favourite section was the one on street games like Gilli Danda, Kabbadi, Latoo and Goli, with some I hadn't heard of before -- Ikri-Dukri and Oonch Neech Ka Papada.