I promised my kid they’d get a laptop when they learn to read well enough.
This turned out to be a good motivator and they can now read full books.
The kid likes competitions and challenges. I would like to come up with tasks they can learn to do with the laptop.
The reason I want my children to have access to a computer specifically, is that while TVs and phones are used to consume, computers are used to create.
I will be installing some Linux flavor on this machine, as it is a bit dated.
I was thinking about things like:
- Write a short story
- Install a graphics editing program
- Draw a picture of a cat
To get them started.
Probably I need some easier ones first.
Really depends on what they’re into in general, but if they show interest in coding, I’d recommend Scratch. It’s a coding platform made (primarily) for kids, I got really into it once, and still tinker with it sometimes. I’d say that Scratch is easy to learn, hard to master, and fun.
They have done the code.org basic course which is in scratch… ish.
That was a few years ago though, they might be ready for freeform coding with the full environment.
If they are ready to move beyond block code, Pyxel looks like a fun way to learn some Python.