Make this Mac interesting to kids!

December 4, 2008 4:04 PM

My husband lucked in to a free iMac and we'd like to set it up for our neice who is 11. Can you help us trick it out?

We haven't done much investigating into what is currently on the machine but we're pretty sure that if it has any software on it that it'll be office related which would be really boring for an 11-year-old!

We don't know her super well as she's the stepdaughter of my sister-in-law and fairly new to our family. She seems in to the typical tween girl stuff -- princesses, magical stuff, Disney -- but is also pretty smart and inquisitive.

We have a small budget to put into it but, of course, great resources for free games -- fun and/or educational -- would be ideal.

posted by amanda to computers & internet (10 comments total)

Is this a new (Leopard 10.5) iMac or an older one? It wasn't clear from your question.
posted by DMan at 4:17 PM on December 4, 2008

Older....
posted by amanda at 4:22 PM on December 4, 2008

I don't know what 11 year olds like, but I <3>Burning Monkey Solitaire.
posted by All.star at 4:32 PM on December 4, 2008

Is this going to have wifi/be connected to the net most of the time? If so just load up some bookmarks of great flash game sites.
posted by mikepop at 4:35 PM on December 4, 2008

Snood.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:37 PM on December 4, 2008

It'll be up to her parents whether it is connected online all the time. I really don't know the answer to that yet. Loading up the bookmarks is a great idea -- do you have some good ones that are kid-friendly?
posted by amanda at 4:47 PM on December 4, 2008

Okay, I'm told it has the most recent OS on it!
posted by amanda at 4:49 PM on December 4, 2008

I have vintage software that will work on that mac. mostly adobe illustrater & web building software. a little advanced for a 11year old but you never know..... if interested email me
[e-mail]
posted by patnok at 4:49 PM on December 4, 2008

what i have is os9 pre intel software
posted by patnok at 4:52 PM on December 4, 2008

A few (free, online) game recommendations. None of them are particularly girly, but they're fun, age-appropriate, and one or two might even be a bit educational:

Hedgehog Launch
Auditorium
Fantastic Contraption
Desktop Tower Defense

For any of these to work, you'll need to make sure Adobe Flash Player (also free) is installed.
posted by [user was fined for this post] at 9:22 PM on December 4, 2008 [1 favorite]