Software for a 7yr old

remus808

Hey, my little brother is pretty au fait with computers at this stage, he loves and is very good at playstation and DS games. Has recentley begun using the computer, but I dont know what to get him doing. He mainly plays games like Sonic Heroes or Mario and goes onto the CBBC website sometimes but I'd rather have him doing something more beneficial and I'm stuck for ideas. Does anyone know of useful/educational games/software out there that might be suitable?

x in the city

get him a spectrum and tell him write his own games.....:eek:

or you can get these game developers kits for the pc to make some pretty basic games. platformers etc.
after this he might turn to C++ and do his own games.....

never know.:D

odriscop

I've never been impressed with "educational" software - (well - apart from the first couple of minutes of using Encarta and watching a 10 second clip of a space shuttle launch in a tiny window. )

Apart from PC games, which are not without educational value (e.g. Civilization etc), I would suggest getting him into Wikipedia - maybe doing little projects in Office in whatever he's interested in.

With regard to programming - getting off the ground in programming can be a frustrating experience. But you can do some fun things in Visual Basic (or VBA, which you can access from Office applications). Or - You could try a sample of some of the tutorials in Macromedia Flash - but a 7 year old would need a bit of guidance for anything like that.

You can download a 30 day free trial for Flash and other Macromedia applications.

Nevyn

Check in you local library they often have games and educational software in the the miltimedia section.

I know that the reader rabbit series is in most of the dublin libraries or at least can be ordered into most of the dublin libraries.

http://www.learningcompany.com/jump.jsp?itemID=73&itemType=CATEGORY&path=1%2C2%2C9%2C73

dame

Get him some design software (lots out there) and he can design and print greetings cards, make posters, etc. When I was little I loved that sort of thing.

Also, you could encourage him to write his own stories, type them up and illustrate them with clip-art? That way he's practising his English language and composition skills and will have something that looks good to print out and be proud of afterwards. Myself and my sisters used to produce little newsletters (just family and local titbits about pets, school, etc). Insist he writes his stories out by hand first though. Otherwise he will begin to rely on spell-check and never bother to learn to spell properly for himself (there are kids and young adults out there like that today :eek:, ask a teacher).

Programming etc. is all well and good but he's only 7, still learning to read and spell properly in English, let alone programming languages. Time enough for him to learn computer programming when he gets older and can manage to read, write and spell properly first. Anyway, you don't want to hit him with hard stuff that might knock his confidence and put him off programming.

ExpectantMum

odriscop wrote: »

I've never been impressed with "educational" software - (well - apart from the first couple of minutes of using Encarta and watching a 10 second clip of a space shuttle launch in a tiny window. )

Apart from PC games, which are not without educational value (e.g. Civilization etc), I would suggest getting him into Wikipedia - maybe doing little projects in Office in whatever he's interested in.

With regard to programming - getting off the ground in programming can be a frustrating experience. But you can do some fun things in Visual Basic (or VBA, which you can access from Office applications). Or - You could try a sample of some of the tutorials in Macromedia Flash - but a 7 year old would need a bit of guidance for anything like that.

You can download a 30 day free trial for Flash and other Macromedia applications.

woah... wikipedia no way.... self editable information... i dont trust anything that i read on wikipedia alone... have to cross refernce it... there are a LOT of false facts on that.. and there are even wikipedia vandals who deliberatly go around changing facts and figures... just be careful wen u get info from that...

I definatly agree with flash/editing software, you can have a lot of fun with it!

There are lots of kids mini games websites.... just google them....:)

Deliverance

karmabass wrote: »

Hey, my little brother is pretty au fait with computers at this stage, he loves and is very good at playstation and DS games. Has recentley begun using the computer, but I dont know what to get him doing. He mainly plays games like Sonic Heroes or Mario and goes onto the CBBC website sometimes but I'd rather have him doing something more beneficial and I'm stuck for ideas. Does anyone know of useful/educational games/software out there that might be suitable?

Nice to see a sibling taking an interest in their lil bro's education:
The jojo in numberland series is very good for numbers and counting:

http://www.teem.org.uk/1538/

There are some reviews here on the product on the link above for your interest. The link covers both of the 'jojo' series, the second CD will be more appropriate for yourself I think.

I'm using it myself for pedagogical research and I find my little one is totally engaged by it although it is a bit old for her. There are two CD's I suspect that the second one is for your little brother.

Also there is a title called 'Piggy in numberland':

http://www.motion.com/products/piggy_numberland/index.html

Looks amazing and I think I will be getting this myself in time. From what I have seen personally from 'jojo' I would reccommend 'piggy in numberland as well'. As part of the same production team.

If you want something more advanced try this:
http://ldd.lego.com/
It is a 3d lego building program, basically you can build lego stuff using 3d technology. It is a good introduction and familiarisation to 3d software. A kid can use this for fun, it is a good intro in a fun way to heavier 3d programs.

remus808

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys, willl definitely follow them up thanks! But where did everyone get the idea I was trying to teach him programming?? Have you guys been checking my previous posts lol (computer science geek)

Deliverance

karmabass wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys, willl definitely follow them up thanks! But where did everyone get the idea I was trying to teach him programming?? Have you guys been checking my previous posts lol (computer science geek)

If your thinking about programming as a route then 'Logo' is apparently a good intro for anyone of all ages to grasp the concepts of programming. It involves moving a little turtle around the screen controlled by simple commands.
Linky here:http://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/logo/turtle.html