(FORTUNE Magazine) – SUPER STORYTELLER Give the babysitter a break and introduce the children to Kid Works, a software program that makes your personal computer read their own stories aloud. Created by Davidson & Associates of Torrance, California, it combines a word processor, paint program, and voice-to-text technology that let children write and listen to their own illustrated stories. Kid Works is designed for children 4 through 10, and text can be typed in large or small letters. Youngsters use the paint program to create pictures, which are shown with the story while it is read. They can also replace words with pictorial icons stored in the computer's hard disk -- instead of ''wet,'' for example, a boy being rained on. New words can be put into the program's dictionary by using phonetics to teach the computer proper pronunciation. Kid Works is available now for the IBM-compatible PC for $50. Look for a Macintosh version by midyear. You will probably also want a sound board or external device that enhances the clarity of spoken words; prices for these start around $80.

STELLAR WATCH Wealthy gadget lovers can now keep track of heavenly bodies -- and a lot else besides -- while gaining fresh appreciation for man's ancient ingenuity. The Astrolabium Galileo Galilei, by Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin, incorporates a wrist-mounted astrolabe, the predecessor of the sextant used for celestial navigation. It indicates the position of the sun, moon, and major stars, the time of sunrise and sunset, the phases of the moon, the month and approximate date, the sign of the zodiac, and solar and lunar eclipses. It tells you the time for your zone and the exact solar time for your area within the zone. Five hands and a rotating glass disk perform the watch's functions. Worth about 40 times its weight in gold, the 18K, four-ounce Astrolabium can be had for $56,000 at luxury jewelers in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and -- of course -- Newport and West Palm Beach.

MICROWAVE TEAKETTLE Whoever said a watched pot never boils didn't have to open the microwave door to check on it. Now high-tech chefs can be alerted by an old-fashioned whistle with the Microwave Whistling Teakettle by General Housewares of Terre Haute, Indiana. Why zap your water? A quart of it boils in just 6 1/2 minutes in most microwaves if you use this kettle -- about 15% faster than in a regular teakettle on an electric range. One reason: The base is domed to maximize the exposure of water to microwaves. Because the teakettle is made of plastic and doesn't heat up, it can be placed on any surface. The whistle, part of a removable cap, lets out a 78-decibel squeal that should penetrate even the thickest microwave door. The kettle is available in white or a granite pattern for $25.

SHOW AND TELL People have been waiting for this one since the 1964 New York World's Fair. The AT&T VideoPhone 2500 lets you see whom you're talking to with a 3.3-inch diagonal LCD screen and a camera the size of a penny mounted on a flip-up panel. Don't get stage fright. If you're feeling shy, you can slide a shutter over the camera lens; if you need a dress rehearsal, a self-viewing button lets you watch yourself before you make the call. Thanks to so-called compression technology that eliminates all but the most essential elements of the picture, the video signal travels over ordinary phone lines. The picture isn't quite up to the quality of television -- images are transmitted at a speed of up to ten frames per second, vs. 30 for TV. Still, it's live, it's in color, and the calls cost the same as regular ones. AT&T will start selling the VideoPhone in May for $1,500 and will also rent units for less than $30 a day.