How have you shared computers with your young child (~3 to 5)

Question

My kids are not quite screen time age, but at some point will be. I'd like to give them an interesting computer experience instead of just plopping them in front of an iPad with some media.When I was a kid I had fond memories of exploring the file system, figuring out how applications worked, playing with Kid Pix, Paint, and a few games (roughly Apple IIGS, Macintosh 2, through iMac + a Windows XP desktop).Do you have any fun old laptops or device you've got lying around that you've used to introduce kids into a desktop environment?Any and all recommendations welcome :)

akkartik · Accepted Answer

I've been making little things for them with LÖVE. If I show them a Paint program and they say, "I wish I could draw circles," then I nod non-committally and then the next day it does circles. In this way I hope they will grow to expect to have agency over computers and not just accept what some app offers.
More details:
https://akkartik.name/freewheeling
https://akkartik.name/freewheeling-apps
https://akkartik.itch.io/carousel

codingdave · Answer

At 3-5? We gave them an old dead phone to play with. They made their own laptops from a couple pieces of cardboard, and drew a keyboard and screen on it.

johncole · Answer

For a long time we setup a raspberry pi with screen and monitor for our kids to use. It was perfect, the gpu wasn&rsquo;t strong enough to watch YouTube but it was fun to play some basic games and get curious about coding.We have banned YouTube on our house, without an adult watching. But I make a private playlist that has interesting videos I see, mostly educational, so when we have time to watch we watch something of quality.

johncole · Answer

Ah one more hack or idea. My kids LOVE books. Our local library has the Libby App and we get tons of free books for car rides and nap time. Get it and get them a kindle fire. Then completely disable games and only enable books.

hyperman1 · Answer

My kid has his own account, with the password something I want him to remember:. Our phone number, words he misspells, ...

pylua · Answer

I let my son, who is 5, play around with gcompris qt. I think the chess game has helped him learn.It helps with getting the mouse and keyboard down.

brudgers · Answer

Your child wants to spend time with you. Not with a computer.
And you both will be better off for it.
So put your child on your lap and let the computer be an excuse until you give yourself permission not to need an excuse. Because they are only little once, turn out amazing, get their own lives, and you miss them like hell. Good luck.

trod1234 · Answer

I haven't had a child yet, but when I do I will be going the low/no tech route.
I was quite fond of a number of things as a child that when looking back on it knowing what I know now, were extremely detrimental to my development as a person.
In some cases the things I loved the most at the time ended up setting me back as much as a decade in maturity (i.e. gaming addiction), which is relentlessly pursued by most companies in the space today.
I don't intend to raise or coddle my children in such a way as to have them become infantile hopelessly dependent adults, and in many cases today as a parent you have to be ruthless when it comes to cutting out malign influences.
I have friends who have children, and they've taken similar spartan approaches to great effect.
Their children read, think, and comprehend material at a much higher level than their peers.