I May the New Year bring to all our friends and family health, joy, prosperity and everything good in life. Spirituality Kids And The Web Web sites make preparing for the High Holidays fun. Rhoda and Marvin Perlin and Family Mark Mietkiewicz Special to the Jewish News R 1 May the coming year be filled with health and happiness for all our family and friends. L'Shanah Tovah! Tammy and Aaron Betel Steven & Melanie Betal Nikki & Michelle Budaj May the coming year be filled with health and happiness for all our family and friends. L'Shanah Tovah! May the coming year be filled with health and happiness for all our family and friends. L'Shanah Tovah! B18 September 25 • 2008 osh Hashanah is almost here — a time for solemn intro- spection. But that doesn't mean you and your family can't have some fun while getting ready for the holiday. Plenty of Web sites teach about the holiday through games, puzzles and activities, so parents can enjoy them with their children between now and Yom Kippur. •Virtual Jerusalem combines a very good introduction to the holiday with games and more. There are holiday- related short stories and plans for cre- ating a calendar, a mitzvah chart and a Jerusalem Tzedakah Box. The site has a page that tries to demystify the holiday and encour- ages kids to talk to God. To get things going, it includes comments from chil- dren ages 4 to 6. Here's one from Sam, age 6: "Dear God, Instead of making people die and having to make new ones, why don't you just hang on to the people you've already got here?" [tinyurl.com/virtkids] • The learn@JTS Kids' Corner emphasizes activities that parents can share with their children. We are told that we eat symbolic foods on Rosh Hashanah to portend a good year: We eat a fish head for a year in which we will be at the head and not at the tail. Then the Web site challenges families to adopt some brand new food tradi- tions. How about eating squash so that "bad luck may be squashed?" [tinyurl. com/jtskids] •With the holiday almost here, it's time to dust off the machzor and pre- pare for the services. Uncle Eli's Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Prayer Book is a delightful online variation geared to kids. Both serious and silly, these poems get across often-difficult concepts like forgiveness and repen- tance. [tinyurl.com/elirepents] • SocialAction.com points out that because Rosh Hashanah is the world's birthday, it is appropriate to do some- thing good for the world. Start by hav- ing your family finish these phrases: "We thank You for the beauty of the world that we see in ..." and "Help us to make our dreams a reality by helping us to ..." [tinyurl.com/4qb2d] •We may no longer spend weeks huddled over a table preparing New Year's greeting cards. But you and your kids can still send out special holiday wishes and thanks to the Internet, you have plenty of time. There are many sites that let you 4 ,4 compose and personalize online card% like Chabad.org . • For other crafts, take look at the ideas at Aish Hatorah where you can find instructions to make your own Tzedakah Box and Honey Dish. [aish. com/hhFamily/hhArts] • If you asked children to draw pic- tures that symbolize Rosh Hashanah, what do you think they would include? That was the challenge posed to children in countries that receive assistance by the Joint Distribution Committee. You can see how young people from India to Siberia to Gamla, Israel drew on their experiences to wish the world a Shana Tova. [tinyurl. com/roshworld] • The Aish HaTorah site has some really challenging puzzles and mazes. And after you read through the holi- day articles at the site, you'll be ready for the quiz. [tinyurl.com/aishrosh] Here's a sample question: What are the names of the sounds the shofar makes? A.Tekia, Truah, Shevarim. B.Tefilah, Torah, Sefarim. C.Tequilla, Brew-a, Collada. • Kids who like to color shouldn't miss the Torah Tots site. They can print out and then decorate holiday symbols such as the shofar and tash- lich. There's also an on-line jigsaw puzzle in which you slide the little squares around until you make a picture showing apples and honey. [tinyurl.com/totsrosh] When you've done that, try the Replace the "Pickle" quiz. Can you make sense of this example? "We blow the 'PICKLE' after davening during the month of 'CUCUMBER'. The shofar reminds us to do RELISH." (Answers: shofar; Elul; teshuvah) Mark Mietkiewicz is a Toronto-based Internet producer who writes, lectures and teaches about the Jewish Internet. He can be reached at highway@rogers.com .