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> I doubt developers for GNU, Apache, Gnome, or QT care about making kiddo games for Linux

"Rare" I agree. But I still remember the libre GCompris project https://gcompris.net/ which runs on GNU/Linux. The GooglePlay/Android version is paid, though.

The article summary states, "computer science is a very difficult thing to learn later in life"

That is a false premise. To learn anything you need the prerequisite skills. Computer Science can be taught to people with basic reading and math skills. Some experience typing is helpful but not necessary. I am working with my seven year old daughter on various tech skills. I found the Gcompris educational software to be a good place to start. Early parental involvement in learning is way more important than trying to make "code monkeys" out of people who are not interested. My daughter is mainly into the artistic aspects so far. It is a good learning experience for both of us.

Simply put, an interested learner of any age can pick up Computer Science and programming faster than someone who is not really all that interested in tech.

I am the creator of the educational software GCompris. While it would be hard to prove but it may really help children. At least many users reported us positive feedbacks over the years.

If it is free software, you should have the possibility of altering the program so that it does not ask for money and you are permitted to distribute such versions.

You can, the source is available here. And it is apparently licensed under the GPLv3.

As the developper of the educational software GCompris ( http://gcompris.net/ ), I am glad to see how far they went in their project. Just looked at their documentation and it is really impressive. It is really motivating for free software developpers to see our work is useful.

As the author of GCompris, I have to agree. By the way, a little link would help : http://gcompris.net/

Gcompris makes more or less that: You get free source code, and free binaries for Linux, but if you want a binary for a non-free operating system (Windows, OSX) you have to pay

http://gcompris.net/

No one has recommended gcompris?

Free software is made of win.

GCompris is in use by schools all over the world.

What? Those look stupid, when I was a kid we ha- Number Muncher??

Awesome.

GCompris is in use by schools all over the world.

You're guaranteed to win, or money back.

http://www.gcompris.net/
http://debian.org/

Get a touch screen Kiosk, and log GCompris http://gcompris.net/. "GCompris is a high quality educational software suite comprising of numerous activities for children aged 2 to 10."

I'm sure somebody will produce educational games for it eventually

Gcompris, which in my opinion is some of the best educational software out there, is already involved in OLPC.

Let me just say that most of the educational software I've seen is poorly made, and of dubious educational value at best. Gcompris could use some better graphics perhaps, but the actual activities and overall playability are far beyond any of the "professional" products I've seen.

Childsplay and GCompris

My suggestion is to d/l edubuntu Live CD (x86, PPC, AMD64 versions available). I did this just this weekend and began showing my 6 year old around the system. There are a number of excellent applications for education (most above the level of the average elementary student, no doubt) and educational games. One is the LOGO programming language/environment, which is designed to teach programming to children. Also, in the GCompris educational packages is a "boat race" game that is a programming teaching aid (forward x, left degrees). Recommended.

That's sad they did nothing inovative here. They use the classic matching pair over and over again. There is a lot of thinks a software can be usefull to help children. I can continue working on the educational software GCompris.

I have created an account on the family computer (located in the living room) for my 5 year old.
He has the most limited permissions that I can give him.
His desktop has icons for Childsplay, TuxPaint, TuxType, TuxMath, Gcompris and a handfull of other educational games.

And he has access to Firefox. It defaults to a local page with links to selected (by me) kid-friendly web sites. And I have it running in "kiosk mode" (no address bar, no search bar, etc)

He gets "computer time" as a treat, and can loose it for mis-behaving.

sorry. completely disagree in this specific case. kubuntu isn't (IMHO) in any meaningful sense a 'distribution'. I've tried it, I do know. It is == ubuntu with a couple of packages added and a mod'd gnome desktop. Thats it.
Now, I'm a complete *nix nut, and I love to see it promoted, and I think kubuntu is a worthy project, but I'm sorry I think it is complete nonsense to call it a distribution.
I (or any other half competent user) could take a vanilla ubuntu and with apt-get and vi in 5 mins produce 'kubuntu' for you
The people here who deserve credit are the program creators, e.g., of gcompris
[I also think you are wrong in the general sense w.r.t. distribution specialization. This is however a matter of non-rational belief (and one of the reasons I like freebsd). But that is another story]

We have this feature in GCompris but focused towards the youger kid. There is no loops, just sequencial order of commands. http://gcompris.net/article.php3?id_article=5999 I believe we need to teach kids it can be powerful to type in commands for the computer to execute. Do you believe it can help them understand computers?