What are good Mac software packages for two year-old?

September 18, 2004 4:10 PM

AskMacFilter: Ok, so now I’ve got a viable Imac and a 2.63 year old. What sites/software are going to suit her?

She's seen me use a computer a bit, but hasn't got the hang of keyboarding or mousing yet. Something fun, engaging, entertaining and mouse-training seems like a good first step. We've already plunged into the interactive portion of They Might Be Giant's "No". Good thing I like the cd...

posted by daver to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

BBC Preschool might be a fair place to start. And a couple of the pbskids games are engaging.
posted by majick at 4:39 PM on September 18, 2004

there are some good ones here.

(and you can always get a simple freeware drawing program, and sit him/her on your lap and let em play.)
posted by amberglow at 5:57 PM on September 18, 2004

As amberglow suggested, a drawing program is good. You should have Appleworks on the iMac -- it includes a paint program.
posted by joaquim at 6:25 PM on September 18, 2004

Panic's Desktastic is good for little ones. Let's you draw / scribble / whatever right on your desktop.
posted by nathan_teske at 6:56 PM on September 18, 2004

devil's advocate: do you really want to get your child hooked on computers before the age of 3? why drawing programs? why not paper and crayons?

feel free to ignore my comment if it's too snarky...
posted by louigi at 7:44 PM on September 18, 2004

Try AlphaBaby. My boy didn't really "get" mousing until age 3 or so. He's now 4+ and is really getting good at it. YMMV. When your little bundle of joy is a bit older, Orisinal will delight you both.

I'm inclined to agree with louigi, up to a point; The Crayola OS user experience is vastly superior to both Mac OS X and Windows for drawing/scribbling/mark making. I think "hooked" may be too strong a word for introducing the little ones to computing though. Why not do both?
posted by Scoo at 9:22 PM on September 18, 2004