With summer just around the corner, the popular snow-covered virtual world of Club Penguin (www.clubpenguin.com) has introduced a program designed to help entertain children both on and off the computer during their school holidays.

101 Days of Fun features daily suggestions for activities players can enjoy within the virtual world of Club Penguin and in the real world. From tips on how to uncover secret game levels online to examples of recipes and crafts players can do at home, the program is designed to help children discover Club Penguin in a whole new way while keeping them entertained all summer long.

“Our players are always looking for new ways to explore and enjoy Club Penguin and we think 101 Days of Fun is a great way to help them discover more of the activities and secrets the virtual world has to offer,” says Lane Merrifield, one of Club Penguin’s founders and executive vice president of Disney Online. “As parents ourselves, we also recognize the value of getting children out to play and explore in the real world, and we hope the printable list of things to do offline will encourage kids to get outside and take the fun of Club Penguin with them this summer.”

The lists of suggested on and offline activities are available on the “Fun Activities” (http://community.clubpenguin.com/funactivities/ ) section of the Web site and in the Club Penguin Times, the world’s weekly virtual newspaper. Offline activity suggestions include making Puffle™ (the penguins’ cute fluffy pets) sugar cookies and taking a nature walk to find rocks to paint to look like Puffles.

Club Penguin is one of the largest and fastest-growing virtual worlds where children can explore, play games and interact with friends. With its imaginative play environment, word filtering technology and live moderators who monitor chat and activity on the site and work to prevent the sharing of inappropriate or personally identifiable information, Club Penguin has built a reputation as an online environment that provides fun for kids and peace of mind for parents.

A parent’s email address is required to create a penguin, and parental permission is necessary in order to activate an account and play in the virtual world.

Parents can also create their own account and logon to view their child’s account history, change their child’s password, choose a different chat mode, and set a time limit for how long their child is allowed to visit Club Penguin.

Club Penguin is free to play, however special features such as priority access, exclusive parties and opportunities for players to customize their penguin and igloo require a membership.

Club Penguin launched in English in 2005 and is now also available to play in French and Portuguese with Spanish coming soon.