LET THE INTERNET PUT A LITTLE COLOR INTO YOUR LIFE

It seems like everywhere you turn, you'll find references to the World Wide Web -- even in the most unlikely places. I bought a box of crayons for my girls the other day. Nestled among the traditional hues, I found these Internet-inspired colors: green.com, online orange, plug & play pink, floppy yellow, circuit board green, www.purple and cyber space orange.

That's not to say there weren't other unusual shades: like macaroni and cheese, asparagus, purple mountain majesty, and tickle me pink. But on every single box and each individual crayon, you'll find the Web address. Let's check it out.

www.crayola.com

You can just visit the site or you can register with Crayola passport, which is free and expands your opportunities at the site. You can even sign up for a free e-mail account, which ends with 64box.com or crayola.com. I also liked the "Mark Your Calendar" off the main page, which lists all the special national observances each month.

A lot is here for kids and parents. From the home page, you can help name the 16 new metallic crayon colors.

You can search what they call the "world's largest collection of inspiring ideas." You can search by activity, time, age and interest. There are great project ideas here for rainy days or even sunny ones.

There's also a large collection of cards you can create. There are electronic cards, or ones you can print and color, of course.

Check out the Color Census to learn what colors are tops among kids and celebrities. Blue, my personal favorite, topped the list. You can also look at color favorites by demographics and geography.

Take a quiz to guess the favorite colors of actors, athletes, business leaders, media talent, musicians and public figures. If you grow weary of the guessing, give up and they'll tell the answers. By the way, President Bush's favorite color is blue bell, while Tiger Woods loves wild strawberry.

You can also learn more about crayon chronology. In its nearly 100 years, the company has introduced more than 400 different crayons. You can search the color database, or print out a summarized history of the core 120 colors. I did notice my new Internet-colors were not in the database. Tsk.Tsk.

Don't forget to take an online tour of the factory before you leave. You can learn how crayons and markers are made.

Let's check out some other colorful sites for kids on the Internet

www.kidzdraw.com

This site has won a number of awards. First kids must pick their age group: 10 and up, 6 to 10 or 5 and under.

I know in my household, art is big. My kids love to draw, and we need to keep a steady supply of paper or our computer paper starts to disappear.

For 3- to 5-year-olds, there are some art projects in "End of the Rainbow." You can learn about birds, hear their sounds or make a bird mobile. You can learn more about shapes. And there's a fun lesson about an important topic: Emergencies and 911.

In the 6-10, category, kids "reach for the stars." They learn more about art and books. You can learn how to illustrate a book or make a nature collage.

In the 10 and above category, the theme is "Be a Great Artist." So the articles focus on such artists as Van Gogh. But you can also learn more about animation, doodles and how to create a "still life" of your very own.

www.harcourtschool.com/activity/art_line/art_line.html

This site brought to you by Harcourt School Publishers is geared to fine arts for kids.

You can choose fiber arts, sculpture, graphic arts, painting or art puzzles.

Under painting, you can learn more about six artists, including Monet and Van Gogh. Pick an artist, get a brief description and then see if you can pick out one of his famous works.

In art puzzles, choose a category such as animals, fruit, flowers or landscapes and put the picture back together. You need Shockwave to play. They're pretty easy, with only four pieces per puzzle, but then you learn about each painting or drawing.

You can also learn more about sculpture from Michelangelo as well as Native American, Egyptian and African.

The fiber arts category is also a Shockwave game. You must match the textiles to the places they come from.

You can click on "Art" at the bottom of the main page for other art projects, such as mixing colors and using light and dark colors.

If you're kids are tired of talking and ready for coloring, zip over to Coloringbook.com

www.coloringbook.com

This is a place for kids and kids at heart. You can pick from dozens of coloring book pictures, and then either trace or color them. You can also change your color palette and the size of your brush. Hey, this is kind of fun.

You need a Java-enabled browser to color online, and it takes a few seconds to load. Most of the newer versions of Internet Explorer or Netscape come with Java already enabled.

For some additional hands-on coloring projects, visit the Weekly Reader site.

www.weeklyreader.com/features/cbpals.html

You can either print a picture to color or do the work online, on your computer screen. To print, click the print button. To color online, choose the Java option.

It's easy to do. Click on the color you want to use and then click on the part of the picture you want to color. My kids love to color on the computer, and they have several computer games that do just that.

Of course, there's lots of other fun activities to keep your kids busy on the Weekly Reader site. Go to the bottom of the page and pick your area of interest.

But back to color. Here's a site I found that is geared more for adults because it explores the influences of color in our world. I found it fascinating.

www.colormatters.com

As an introduction, the site tells us: "Color plays a vitally important role in the world in which we live. Color can sway thinking, change actions, and cause reactions. It can irritate or soothe your eyes, raise your blood pressure or suppress your appetite."

You can learn why brides used to wear green for wedding dresses, not white. In the symbolism category, there's an article on colors and accidents. Visitors have also written on the fact the color of their car makes a big difference. I was also intrigued by research about how men and women react differently to colors.

The Web site is brought to you by J.L. Morton, a college professor whose area of expertise is color. She has written books about color, been on the national lecture circuit, and has advised such big-name clients as Nokia mobile phones and Eastman Kodak. She says the Web site is a continuation of her teaching and passion for color.

Put some color into your life, and I'll see you in cyberspace.

Joni Adams is the Webmaster at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. You can find her column online at www.semissourian.com or hotlinked at www.southeastmissiourihospital.com. You can e-mail her at jonia@sehosp.org.