This open source drawing software lets kids compose and edit graphics interactively using a very simple, very intuitive user interface. It is a great way of improving kids’ creativity while introducing them to drawing software.

The version adds fixes for a number of minor bugs in previous releases. One improvement you might immediately notice is an expanded stamps collection (nearly 100 new images added) , which now includes cartoonish buildings and scenery, a variety of new vehicles , food, and animals and more holiday-themed stamps.

The toolbar contains the tools you need to draw and edit. The Paint Brush tool lets you paint ready made pictures or ones that you create yourself. There are some fun tools like the Stamp tool, which lets you paste pre-drawn or photographic images like a picture of a bear, butterfly, banana, or a spaceship onto a blank canvas or onto an existing picture from the gallery. You can resize, flip, mirror, or even change the color of the stamps.

The Magic tool contains a set of special tools that change the way your drawing looks by adding objects like grass, bricks, rainbow and sparkles, or effects such as tint, smudge, blur or cartoonize.

The Text tool adds text. There various font styles and sizes to choose from. Using the color bar, you can change the font colors, too.

The Shapes tool lets you draw outlines of shapes or simple filled shapes. The lines tool lets you draw straight or wavy lines. The lines range from simple vertical, diagonal, horizontal lines to lines composed of figures such as squirrels, hearts, leaves and flowers.

Tux paint is so much fun to use. Perhaps it’s time to give it a try. It is available for download free of charge from the project’s website. For further information, visit: www.tuxpaint.org and www.newbreedsoftware.com.

Tux Paint 0.9.20 is available for Microsoft Windows Vista, XP, 2000, ME, 98 and 95, Red Hat and Fedora Linux, Intel- and PowerPC-based Apple Mac OS X systems, and as source-code. It is also once again available for older versions of Microsoft Windows (Windows95, 98 and ME) and older versions of Red Hat and Fedora CORE Linux.