If your kids love the computer, and even if they don’t, send them on their merry way to Whyville. It’s a free online community geared at kids from ages 8 to 15. Once they’re in Whyville they can do lots of fun stuff like:

• Chat and play games
• Run for the Senate
• Write for The Whyville Times
• Earn clams—which teaches them civics, art, science, and economics along the way

Not sure if it’s educationally sound-no worries-the games were created in partnership with some of the best and brightest like NASA and the J. Paul Getty Museum.