Ideas for computer challenges for a 7yo
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.
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Obviously you’ll want to start with absolute basics like mouse and keyboard navigation.
Beyond that? Maybe something involving a ‘treasure hunt’ to learn about navigating files and folders, renaming files, and copying vs. moving them.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard lots of kids coming up now really struggle with the concept of file systems, so it’s definitely something worth teaching early.
if they have shown any interest at all in programming, regular expressions is another topic that would be worthwhile to start learning 'early'.
Damn. I love this community. Lemmy goes hard.
Edit: To be clear, I agree. It's just great to be among like minded folks, here.
Is there a good place to start learning regular expressions as if I'm a young kiddo who just learned to finally read? Lol
...I have a wee one on the way so I'd like to get ahead of this knowledge myself lol. 😅
I love the treasure hunt idea.
Hey dad, Thinkercad is 100% online and has one of those building blocks coding. It has courses for young kids and he can even learn how to model in 3d. Very simple and fun
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.
Honestly give them Minecraft and let them loose on that. For a 7yo that's a great challenge.
And when they get a handle on the base game, you can build up all kind of skills with texture packs and mods.
Its also easy to make a self hosted server. Which has its own set of challenges, but would be great if they get a few friends to play.
They already build cities in minecraft but on the playstation. Good idea to include that on the PC.
Maybe get them to use keyboard and mouse instead of a controller? Still teaches computer literacy and it's a good control schema to get used to as a child
You could do what my dad did and accidently delete some of the system files, leaving it for your kid to fix.
Joking aside, that's an interesting perspective. I hadnt really thought of it that way before, despite using a computer to create things almost every day.
Now I assume this thread is full of folks trying to figure out if we found our siblings Lemmy account...
You could install something like LMMS and let them experiment with making their own music (without needing recording equipment or learning real instruments yet).
Oh hey I didn't know about LMMS, this is definitely going on the list!
Editing a text file (I guess writing a story has that covered?)
Deleting a program (I did not know how to remove programs for the longest time as a kid… this was on windows, mind you. I figured just deleting the desktop icon was all it took. Oops.)
Changing display resolution and scale (Really just poking around the accessibility menu in general is valuable, lots of useful stuff even for someone with good vision etc.)
All of these basic OS skills are great! App management and settings are def on the list now.
Does your kid like minecraft? Make a game with them on the minetest/luanti engine. For a base game you can use Minetest Game or a minecraft clone like Mineclonia and follow this modding book. Have the kid make 16x16px textures in gimp and you can rtegister some modded blocks Its as easy as this:
minetest.register_node("default:stone", { description = S("Stone"), tiles = {"default_stone.png"}, groups = {cracky = 3, stone = 1}, drop = "default:cobble", legacy_mineral = true, sounds = default.node_sound_stone_defaults(), })
https://www.luanti.org/en/
https://rubenwardy.com/minetest_modding_book/en/index.html
What a great idea, I have been looking for ways to get them into programming in a fun way.
I'm not exactly young anymore and things have sure changed a lot since I learned my way around a computer. But here are the things I remember being fun for me back then:
Drawing around in paint (you already have that covered)
Creating presentations. Maybe like: Make a presentation about your favourite topic. This might involve collecting pictures either from the internet or getting them from a camera / phone on the laptop.
Playing some games (in my case pinball, but that's definitely not very up to date). You can learn quite a bit about clicking through menus etc from playing games.
Something else that would be important to learn early is created folders and keeping some sort of system with your files. I struggle to come up with a fun way to teach that though. Maybe someone else has a good idea?
The presentation idea is good and maybe I can tie in some other fun thing, like identifying plants or something.
Have him open it up, clean the dust, and put it back together again.
I was actually considering a desktop PC for this reason...
Some laptops are ok, my old clevo was 9 screws and the entire back slides off.
Some laptops are terrible, my current MSI is like 14 screws and 20 clips. For some reason the MSI just doesn't get cleaned as often.
Need to see how bad it is. It's an old Lenovo business computer of some sort. My own old Lenovo is just a few screws but a mazillion plastic clips.
Plastic clips are hell. At least screws tend not to break. On the plus side if it's old and doesn't matter, a few broken clips won't stop it running.
Adding to this, to have them learn about static build up and how to ground themselves before touching anything in an electronic device. PC/laptop in particular.
Those tasks sound simple enough :3
Could also throw in things like take a screenshot, or file navigation. If they've not used a computer knowing where to find things will come in handy
Yea, taking a screenshot is definitely going on the list.
You can make an image of the / drive so it's easier to restore if they break the system.
I you can slowly teach them to use the command line, if they can read fluently using the cli shouldn't be that hard. You can teach them the basic commands, and teach them to install a program with apt.
Also, you said write a short story? The teach them vim (or emacs if you prefer that).
You can install vmpk (or some other music keyboard emulation program) so they can play some music. And if they get more interested get them LMMS and later ardour + advanced stuff.
Krita is a super nice program to draw, and colour (tho no fun without a drawing tablet), maybe you can teach them vectorial drawing on inkscape. And if they like it then install Blender and go 3D.
Teach them to launch Vim, and they can spend their remaining computer use time using Vim.
Unless they figure out how to exit vim, then please have them come teach me how.
Sorry. I will see myself out.
https://vimsnake.com/ is a good one for getting used to vim.
That's so cool. This should also help with all those roguelikes that map vim navigation!
That's good advice. I always meant to do that with computers my kids access.
Although I haven't ever had my kids break a Linux Mint install. I set them up as non-sudo users and that was enough.
Of course, they grew older and have sudo now, so I should actually think about taking a drive image, now.
Give them the gentoo install guide.
Lol, make sure the kid goes with VIM while you’re at it.
Oh. i do need to teach them :q!
One challenge will be to open something in VIM and exit.
I'm trying to be a good parent, not traumatize them.
My kids have Raspberry Pi 400s (which I ought to upgrade to 500s, as they complain about them being too slow).
I think those specifically are a good choice for this use-case because they come with a big (physical, paper!) book that teaches kids all sorts of stuff that can be done with them.
If you can figure out how to get it all running, there used to be a lot of really good edu-tainment software in the 90s.
I have never heard of these, need to look em up.
Reader Rabbit was something I enjoyed around that age. Zoombinis was fun too!
This is a wonderful idea.
Off hand, I would agree with understanding file navigation. I would suggest you make a sort of capture the flag treasure hunt. First round, find the file. Second round, move the file. Third round, rename the file.
Installing and uninstalling apps, including looking at reviews online to see what app is best for drawing, for example. Say the challenge is you can only install 2 apps and can only keep one.
Hour to add and delete bookmarks from the browser.
Good luck with this!
Scratch (programming suite) or ScratchJR to start
Tobbie2 robot (STEM focus, build the robot and then program the BBC micro:bit board inside)
GCompris - educational games
Anki - flashcard based learning, of many downloadable topics(whatever their interests are)
Ktuberling - Mr Potatohead, scene creator
Powdertoy - Falling sand sandbox physics program. Can be fun(TNT) or serious, plenty of downloadable creations like: nuclear reactor, steam turbine, car(ICE) etc
Maybe something creative, like making a poster in libre office?
I remember when i was 10-ish ms Word 97 was the shit. I liked to use word art to create and print my name and other texts. Children this age like to be creative if you show him a program and let him loose exploring it, he'll learn a lot.
A great skill to have in life regsthing computers is typing fast, so give him the challenge to reach a certain wpm
IT guy here, I disagree, typing fast isn't really useful enough to dedicate focus to.
I have never formally learned typing fast, I developed my own version of touch typing as I gamed and typed as I grew up.
I am a decently quick typist when typing normally, but my speed absolutely plummet when I do typing speed tests, I find it increadibly annoying to retype stuff from the screen.
Typing speed in and of itself is fairly meaningless, once you have gone beyond the hunt-and-peck stage.
take a look at endless os.
https://www.endlessglobal.com/foundation/access/operating-system
specifically, the 'full' install with all the goodies and content 'preinstalled'.
notes from personal experience (i use endless at home): don't be tempted by the ability to install alongside windows and dual boot. it's not optimal by any stretch. that configuration uses windows as the boot manager (windows has to basically boot to get to that menu), and endless and its data is then stored in a loop device (slow, especially with old hdd). do a normal install (use the 'advanced' option in the windows installer to make an 'endless usb stick' then choose the 'full' image). you will need a 64gb flash drive for an english language 'full' installer of the current (6.0.8) version.
Let them play colobot. It's very cool game (it has a rocket, alien spiders, and robots), and it lets you program your robots. Besides programming, they can also learn reading documentation.
This looks fun. I think I will try it myself too.
I learnt as a 5 year old typing stuff into DOS because I wanted to play games on it.
What do your kids want to do at the computer? That drive will make them motivated learners.
gcompris.
Covers:
The challenge sets itself. I recommend starting there - my kids love it.
This is really good, I had never found this one either!
An arduino would pair well and do some pretty cool stuff, maybe motivate them towards coding. They make some Lego compatible projects too. Maybe also typing challenge games or offline only minecraft
I made them a rainbow light thing from an ESP32. Need to fix that with them.
Break the system so hard that you need to reinstall the system.
Blender is cool but without a lot of guidance it is impossible to use. Blockbench is easier, and they could figure out how to put their creation inside Minecraft.
Pivot animator but it would need to run under wine/proton
Make a song, I would look into bosca ceoil blue and audacity.
Make a short movie
For real this time:
Drag and drop
Copy paste
Select multiple things
Compress and decompress archive
Google something
Find home on the map
Listen to a song.
Send email.
Take a photo with built-in camera and screenshot.
Take a backup
Share a file over the network.
Make terminal go brrrrrr
du /(cowsay, lolcat and cmatrix are also fun)Input an emoji
Change wallpaper, enable wobbly windows and THE CUBE
This has a lot of good base level skills, just what I was looking for. I'm thinking of doing multiple levels where the challenges get bigger / more difficult.
Side note: Affinity (photoshop alternative) just became free, but I think that's too much. Good to know about though.
For photo/paint applications,
Paint.net is a great program, and photopea is a pretty good in-browser Photoshop clone.
Paint.net, unfortunately, is a Windows-only software. For Linux, I'd recommend something like Lazpaint. It's pretty close feature-wise, and I believe that it supports plugins.
I like this idea, but with the additional step of vetting the topic in question on Wikipedia before allowing the kid to read the page.
e.g.: the kid says, "I love MrBeast!" and wants to research him. That Wiki article, while mostly innocuous, has a fairly lengthy "Controversies" section, including blue links to topics like "sexual harassment" and "homophobia".
I never learned blender myself, although I can do some cad... Need to include some 3d modeling for sure though.
I didn't know about Affinity, need to check it.
Get an old 486 and have them install doom via discs heh
Ill steal some suggestions I liked from other commenters and add my own.
And most importantly for me:
Best of luck!
Do you intend to include internet/web surfing, or hold back on that until later?
Search engines can be very useful, while also being awful.
But I do think teaching the kiddo how to navigate the website of your local library would be a good lesson for them.
I was hoping I can keep that limited for now, although it's better for me to teach rather than let them discover on their own...
Find them a program like KidPix and just let them make stuff!
Now you've got the jingle from KidPix Deluxe 3 stuck in my head... YT Link
I'm not sure what's it's like now, but at that age I was just starting to get into visual programming. Using blocks to program. Started getting into Lego robotics. All my computer skills started there.
With Linux I would start them on basic terminal commands. Cat a file. Edit a file. Navigate. Etc.
What was the curriculum you used for them to learn to read?
Honestly the only thing we have been doing has been that we try to latch on to things they show interest in. For reading it was first identifying letters together while out and about when they were asking and turning it into a game. Later they would request to practice writing and want to have a sample to copy. We read to them a lot and have since they have been very little.
Now at school we just take checking homework really seriously and try to make sure they see us read books, not just screens.
The first thing I did in Linux was to change my wallpaper/ UI and Icon themes.
Maybe these would be really easy first challenges that a child would look into anyways, to make the system feel like theirs. I remember constantly changing wallpapers when I was a kid. I wonder what I'd had done with the options Linux offered.
Further down the line I'd explain
sudo apt update/ upgrade (or equivalent)to them, so they can do some basic maintenance.Get them the Hello Ruby books, they’re great for that exact age
Those are good.
It's never too early to learn navigating drives and folders using the command line!
From cmd line, run a game
Maybe coming up with coded messages? With a code language.
(they don't need to be difficult)
While I like the idea of challenges to get them used to computers, I'd also suggest balancing these with challenges that may help them outside the digital/technological world. Maybe challenge them to write a short story or a letter to their grandparents in cursive. Maybe hand-stitch a running hem, mentally add and subtract numbers, walk a quarter-mile every day. Later on, maybe have them plan out and cook a really simple meal, or do some kind of simple repair or put together a flat-pack table or something. Solder or glue something.
I dunno, it just feels like so many skills aren't being taught to kids and they graduate with little knowledge of skills that make your life easier and less expensive - simple repairs, being able to research stuff, being unafraid to do things on your own. Don't get me wrong, I applaud your kid's drive and your desire to make them ready for the digitally-focused world they'll live in, I just see too many kids graduating and needing a massive amount of hand-holding for even the simplest things.
I fully agree with you.
The kids can use most basic tools (hammers, drills, pliers), I try to involve them whenever we fix something around the house.
They can also cook some foods (pretty limited selection but relatively independently, including with the stove), but there is much to learn here.
We have also made sure they know how to swim, ride a bike, clean and treat wounds and even safely handle firearms (very far from anything approaching skill, but safety first).
I think we should practice stitching, that's a great idea and next summer project will have some gardening.
Eventually I'd be happy if I can get them to try some martial art, but so far they don't seem interested.
I am struggling a bit to teach them finance skills, since physical money is so rare now.
This might seem a bit "too much", but as a linux user for 20 years, and someone that also is preparing a computer for my niece (she is 4 right now, but I'm going to give it to my brother so that he can decide when the time is right for her), I have to say you should look in to the new Commodore OS (yes; it is the Commodore!). It's a large OS, but it has everything. What you want to do is hide everything that shouldn't be accessible to your children, and that's as easy as right-clicking on "Applications" and unmark any app that shouldn't be visible (this is easy in any distro, but), it also comes with a few "education" apps (see image), that are very good as an introduction to computing. When they get older, you simply mark the apps you want them to have access to. I've used this dist for about 2 month now, and it is extremely stable. There are also other nice things that can help keep things a bit "fun", like the "Cube" (check my profile header for how it can look, it's from my current setup). The cube (in my opinion) is a great visual as to how, for instance, directories and such work; if you have let's say 4 apps open on your desktop, going in to cube mode you can see how they all are as "layers", this just makes sense (to me, at least).
I think you should check it out!
I have never heard of this project, I will check it out.
The typing practice software is also a good idea (from your screenshot).
Have you thought of using an Arduino, and let him program little things?
The thing they used to show kids to try and get us interested in computer programming back when I was in school about a hundred years ago was called Logo. Apparently there's now an online version called LYNX which might be worth a look.
My kid was all in on Tux Paint for a good while.
He eventually settled in to make cars and cats, but at first he just enjoyed making abstract art with all the colors and paintbrushes.
Download a picture from the Internet, move it to the desktop with the file explorer only. Then print it out.