this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2025
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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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[โ€“] comeonitsnotlike@feddit.nu 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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!

[โ€“] wizzor@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 days ago

I have never heard of this project, I will check it out.

The typing practice software is also a good idea (from your screenshot).