The kid’s grandparents got him an Amazon Fire tablet and I loathe the thing. It teaches literally nothing about computing and the games they have for kids are barely even games, and are more focusing on advertising various IPs.

I’d like to get the kid started, as he learns to read, on something that will be more useful than detrimental, let that soft little brain soak up some actual computer science, literacy. I teach him about basic electrical circuits and how that translates to computing, if, and, or, xor, nor, etc. He’s got some familiar with hex (colors) and the concept of binary (on/off).

But what to get for a first computer? I almost want to get him something Linux based and turn him loose. Is there anything like that, that would require him to learn some command prompt and basic computing skills?

Every time and try and Google it, I get a bunch of crap suggestions and ads.

  • Yes, yes, yes. That fishing advice hits close. I think him seeing me go fishing and seeing all my hesr and stuff has given him a real interest in it. I take him with me often and we make a trip of it, I do most of the fishing and we walk the river. I take a few casts, then he gets to throw rocks. We also spend time finding cool rocks and learning about whatever cool plants and bugs we find.

    I like the idea of building one together.