When my kids were young one of our very favorite Mac programs was a graphics program known as Kid Pix.

Alas, the kids grew up, their taste in software matured (e.g. they prefer iChat, iMovie, or iTunes over anything with the word "kid" in its title), and Kid Pix pretty much fell off our radar.

That all changed this week when the new, fully OS X-savvy version of Kid Pix landed on my doorstep and captured the hearts of my family once again.

Kid Pix Deluxe 3X is a creative toolkit that comes with a ton of cute and clever background images (700+), stamp images (2200+), sticker images (900+), animated images (100+), ambient sounds and music clips (100+), and fonts (25+).

It also offers a full compliment of painting and drawing tools including pencils, chalks, and paintbrushes you can use to create your own artwork from scratch or to modify the included graphics to your liking.

If you're familiar with the old OS 9 version of Kid Pix, you'll be blown away by this one, which has been improved in every way. The graphics, for example, are now anti-aliased so there are no "jaggies." The painting area, formerly limited to 800 x 600 pixels, now stretches to the size of any Mac display. And the new version offers awesome integration with the iLife applications, so simple that even a four-year old will be able to include photos (from iPhoto) and songs (from iTunes) in their Kid Pix creations.

Other improvements include larger cursors in full color rather than the jaggy, black and white cursors found in earlier versions; big, bold buttons and icons far easier on small fingers than the tiny buttons and icons of the OS 9 versions; a wonderful help system that gently coaches kids when they're stuck; and numerous new export options that make it easy for even the youngest kids to share their Kid Pix creations (even with Windows users).

Kid Pix Deluxe 3X is aimed at young folks (ages four and over, according to the box), but it's so clever, cute, fun, and addictive that even older folks like yours truly enjoy it. Case in point: I woke up late last night and found my wife still playing with it at 3 A.M.

I have spent way more time than necessary with this version of Kid Pix, and it's not just so I could review it. I keep launching it because it's just so darned much fun. If you have a kid who is at least four years old (or even if you don't), I can't think of another program that provides this much enjoyment.

Kid Pix Deluxe 3X. S.R.P. $39.95. Software MacKiev. www.mackiev.com.

By Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus

Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus is the author of 47 computer books, including Dr. Mac: The OS X Files, Panther Edition and GarageBand For Dummies.
E-mail comments to doc-chron@boblevitus.com.