In addition, it encourages children's confidence in their writing, builds their comfort with technology, and fosters their creativity. Children at home and at school are so enthusiastic about the Internet as a great way to communicate and learn. Integrating Internet communication capabilities into Kid Works Deluxe is a perfect way for children to share the excitement of their creative accomplishments with family and friends, regardless of where they live. To create a new story, children begin with an original idea, or use one of the program's story starter themes such as poetry, greeting cards, journals and letters. Within these themes, there are over 100 story starter ideas offering text, questions and pictures to facilitate creativity.
Youngsters start their projects in an interactive tree house.
To add text, children can either type the words or use images to represent words from the program's library of more than 450 stickers. The stickers are divided into 35 thematic categories such as farm animals, dinosaurs, sports, food, toys and jobs. With a click of the mouse, children can write a story, then change words in that story to stickers and back again to words. In addition, a Sticker Maker option allows children to design new stickers that can be used as part of their text or in illustrations. To hear their text aloud, children can either listen to one of the program's six fun character voices, or they can record their own narration.