Ask HN: Kids Computer

Maybe an iPad with ScratchJr. (free app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scratchjr/id895485086) is an interesting alternative?

there is such a thing: scratch - computer doesn't matter, you can run it in a web browser

Get a standard computer. Install your preferred paint tool and make a shortcut to Scratch. Create a locked down user account with no access to other apps?

give them a stack of cd's and linux or dos, let them tinker and learn. don't try to give them just something sterile and easy.

There's this low-cost laptop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO but I do not know if they are still produced.

my kid loves gcompris

I use an old Panasonic toughbook. You can get them on eBay cheap. Loaded it up with Linux games and educational activities. Gcompris tux paint and dos box with lots of old educational games from archive.org

Toys are supposed to be cheap and disposable, good software and hardware is expensive.

Swift playgrounds on an iPad may be to your liking.

This is going to depend on the age of the kid. I have given a cheap Laptop to my 6-year old and introduced her to Scratch[1] and Tuxpaint[2]. I let her use the mouse and keyboard more instead of tapping on a screen. The school is likely to introduce Scratch from next year. For older kids, they should be on a normal computer. My old MacBook Pro came handy for the elder one. She does the usual Python, games and stuff but she is not really interested in the computer aspect of computers.

The one thing I want to make them learn is to touch-type but it is hard to convince them to do it regularly. Some of the collections about Computer education for kids https://notes.oinam.com/education/computer/

1. https://scratch.mit.edu

2. https://tuxpaint.org

Advice I often give is to give them what you had growing up (or if you want, what you dreamed of having back then). The idea being that you'll have an intimate understanding of it and know when/when not to guide. Also gives a reference point for where their future devices came from, which builds understanding and makes them seem less like a magic box.

Combine that later with giving them access to what you use professionally. I graduated to Photoshop, Final Cut, etc. later via my dad.

Re. graphics/animation:

Depending on their age, an old copy of Kid Pix could be very entertaining. Good introduction to the concept of professional tools (Affinity, Photoshop, etc.) but a much more engaging UI (sound, skeuomorphism). Lets you add basic interactivity also.

What I haven't found a modern alternative to, but would recommend (somehow) would be Flash. It was a unique intersection between graphics, animation, and programming. I hacked together trading cards, games, stop-motion, websites, and animation with it and use principles I learned there every day.

Possibly the simplest equivalent today I've encountered would be Tumult Hype (note: Mac only :/). Nowhere near the same ecosystem, but it has a similar animation workflow (timeline, keyframing, nested animations, etc.). It lacks some of the additional artistic emphasis that made Flash so iconic and is really more of a straight web animation tool, but I suspect a kid could make more imaginative animations with it that I do. :)

I gave my kid a Power Macintosh 7300 running System 7 with Kid Pix.

I get to use it for Warcraft II too!

When she outgrows Kid Pix I’ll get some other edutainment titles from that era.