Make a 'fountain' of objects

Hey there, how would I go about making a certain object spray out from a particular point?

I’m thinking in particular like adverts I’ve seen from Orange and O2, with little text message icons spraying out from a source. I’d also like to achieve the same thing but to use the mouse position as the source, and cause the spraying to start on a click, and have the objects fade out.

Any ideas or links towards tutorials that would be of help?