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.


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.