But a new public art project in Ohio encourages kids to think bigger than that new porch swing: using software and digital cameras, the youngsters are collaborating to re-design their city.

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This summer, these digital collages will be displayed on computer monitors in 8-foot-tall colorful, fiberglass kiosks throughout Columbus.

Rotterdam artist Jeanne van Heeswijk -- known for installations that combine art, community and urban life -- developed the Face Your World project at the invitation of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University and in collaboration with the Greater Columbus Arts Council's Children of the Future program.

Children of the Future, which receives funding from Americorps, uses arts education to teach communication skills and conflict resolution to "at-risk" kids.

For the program, a remodeled bus outfitted with computers serves as a mobile work area and tour bus. It picks up the kids at their community centers and provides the equipment for them to design their city.

Children use digital cameras to photograph different restaurants, shops, signs, trees and other neighborhood fixtures. Then, they upload them into a new multi-user software program called the Interactor.

The kids can manipulate their photos –- and the 500 other pictures of Columbus already in the database -- to create their reconfigured city. Since the software is multi-user, kids can see each other's work and chat about their ideas.

They can also add pictures of themselves to their customized city.

"A lot of times if people think about art or creativity, they think about individual expression," van Heeswijk said. "(The project) is not so much about individual expression, but to create in collaboration."

Kids ages 6-12 participate in the free summer program, which runs through Aug. 16.

Van Heeswijk said that three details were important to the program: Kids would produce artwork themselves, learn about the urban area they live in, and see other parts of the city.

Plus, kids get to use engaging technology that they might normally not experiment with.

"These after-school programs don't have much beyond toilet paper rolls, scissors and little paints," van Heeswijk said.

The kiosks will display the kids' work 24 hours a day throughout the summer.

A catalog of the kids' artwork will be published at the end of the program. Images of the children's work will also be available on the Face Your World website.

A neighborhood historian, city planner, gardener and representative from a water treatment facility, among others, will visit the kids at the summer program to talk about what makes a city run.

One guest speaker said he was happy to participate in the project.

"It's a very constructive way to get these kids thinking about the environment that they live in and what makes a city," said Max Moore, a Columbus city planner.

"It helps them think about how they can have a role in the environment that they live in," he said.

Both the art project and guest speakers will help kids understand how a city works, said Cynthia Collins, who is helping to coordinate the project for the Wexner Center.