Good computer program/activities for kids too old for Kid Pix?
July 21, 2009 4:35 AM   Subscribe

Good computer program/activities for kids too old for Kid Pix?

I'm running a computer specialty at a local summer camp, and we're hitting the wall with the older kids as far as Kid Pix goes. I did a project on Kid Pix for a computer course and know all sorts of tricks. But the problem is, they all use it in school. For the younger groups, we've been fine. The teeny tinies just use the stamps and spray can, the slightly older kids have been enjoying using the computer's built in camera to import their picture and mess around with it. But we have a handful of older groups who just are sick to death of Kid Pix, and we don't know what else we can do with them. Some info:

- The groups come once or twice per two-week session. There are a lot of groups, so we don't get them more often than that

- The children we're looking for stuff for are in the 10-13 year-old range. They come for 45-minute activity periods

- It's a Mac lab. Pre-installed software includes iWork, iLife, Kid Pix and Safari. Nearly all of the internet is blocked by overly restrictive filters

- Our director is very opposed to computer games and has flat-out said she does not want the kids playing them when they come

- Our director also strongly prefers that they have something to take home at the end of the period

- We can't use Comic Life because another program at camp already uses it

I am looking for suggestions for other programs we might use (we can get pretty much anything we need) that might be suitable for this age group and include some sort of making/doing activities. Is there a slightly more grown-up version of Kid Pix which might give them more sophisticated options? Or am I so in a rut with the 'everyone will make a picture' mode of activity planning that there is some other option I am not seeing here?
posted by JoannaC to Technology (7 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Scratch is a programming language for kids. They can use it to make animations and games and all sorts. There are loads of resources online and shared graphics etc. to get them going. It can be used to teach programming - issues of flow control and event-driven action, for example, or it can be just used as an animation package if you don't want to get indepth.
posted by handee at 4:54 AM on July 21, 2009


You could download gimp to the machines and get a couple of digital cameras and teach them how to do basic photo editing. The digital cameras can be cheap point and shoots.

Sorry thats all i can think of i know a ton of cool programs for windows but i am stumped for osx.
posted by majortom1981 at 5:19 AM on July 21, 2009


Not photo related, but maybe setting each older kid up with his/her own blog? Depending on their abilities, they can customize it, write about whatever, upload pictures, etc. Of course, overly restrictive internet policies might make this impossible, but putting it out there anyway in case it hadn't crossed your mind.
posted by chez shoes at 7:05 AM on July 21, 2009


There are a lot of printables out there that they might like; a bunch of them are in this thread and hopefully your filters would let you get to atleast one or two of those sites. This would also give them something to take home.
posted by TedW at 7:10 AM on July 21, 2009


The other thing you might consider is csunplugged:

http://csunplugged.org/

This lets you do computing exercises without actually using computers. It is aimed at your age group, and comes highly recommended.
posted by handee at 7:14 AM on July 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Another thought is that you can use iLife to let them make their own web sites (perhaps about their camp experiences) and rather than publish them to the web burn them on disks to take home and share with their families.
posted by TedW at 7:40 AM on July 21, 2009


If you want to stay in the picture realm, why not start with iPhoto's basic adjustments?

Or perhaps they could make a slideshow of what they've created so far in iMovie and burn it to a DVD?

Also, seconding the website/blog idea. I learned basic HTML and some Flash at around that age and am forever glad that I did.
posted by reductiondesign at 9:30 AM on July 21, 2009


« Older Best way to track five kids.   |   Healthy ways to get anger and aggression out of my... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.