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Introducing a Child to Constructive Computer Use?
trevorgensch asks: "I have a young boy, about 6 years old, who is starting to take an interest in the computer I seem to spend too much time at lately. Lots of Slashdot readers out there must have had experiences with their young child wanting to learn more. I am all for it! But where to start? He has had a bit of experience with the Internet and children's sites and official sites of Pixar and Disney movies, but he wants more. Any pointers?"
My son has been fluent with a mouse for about a year, since he was 3 1/2. He has graduated to GameCube (yes, he blazes on Mario Kart). I brought him to Nick Jr sites, played Bob the Builder, went to Shockwave and let him play some puzzle games, and his favorite PC game is Snail Mail (sorry, don't have the link). I think its a great thing, he has his own computer (PIII 550) and he goes at his pace.
Check my link to see more of what we do as father and son =)
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
I showed my (now 7 year old) brother to Lego's website. It has a lot of games there, but many of them are of an educational type too. It is, howver, rather flash intensive, but my brother enjoys it.
I introduced both of my kids (now ages 6 and 8) to computers at an early age. We started with games that taught them something, like math, reading, or memory skills. The Reader Rabbit series is pretty good for this.
I try to steer them away from surfing the web, because most sites that are oriented toward kids their ages tend to be pure entertainment (usually tied to a brand of toy). But it gets hard when their friends start telling them about the latest update to barbie.com.
Unfortunately, there is little (if any) open source or Linux software aimed towards young children.
Good Luck!
That's what I did with my daughter when she was 4-5. She's 18 now and, in her second year of college with a 4.0 majoring in botany. Ok, don't get him a PCjr. I just wanted a little geek-parent-brag. The point is to get him something he can play with, hammer on, and call his own. Something where he can play games and learn the keyboard layout, later doing typing games and then writing documents. Make sure the machine also has a printer somewhere.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
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