Today we sit down with Bill Kendrick, father of 1 year old William, and creator of Tux Paint, an awesome free art program for kids and adults. Bill says that they are always looking for volunteers to contribute translations and new artwork.
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SPEND: Make Your Own Monster Custom Design Kit - $249
Found on Mighty Junior
SAVE: Recycle your old greeting cards and make holiday placemats for next year
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AUDIBLE BOOK PICK:
The Keep by Jennifer Egan
VIDEO OF THE WEEK: The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra
(found on Boing Boing)
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
LISTENER FEEDBACK
Bill's Battery Problem: Leo says it's OK to charge three empty batteries with a full battery, as long as you're using nickel-metal hydride batteries. Leo recommends Thomas Distributing for your rechargeable batteries and reminds you to recycle them.
Re: the poll on whether or not you keep a computer in your child's room: My son is under 2 and he has an iMac in his room to play AlphaBaby on and it is not hooked up to the net. After watching this I feel differently about a computer in the bedroom: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/
He will not have a computer in his room when he starts school unless I feel confident I can out-hack him! Have you seen this PBS presentation yet? Wondering your thoughts.
Posted by: Melissa | January 27, 2008 at 02:43 PM
I can not wait to hear this podcast. (not yet available for some reason) I L-O-V-E Tux Paint. It's one of the BEST apps for little kids. I've worked w/this app for a couple of years now and I have installed and configured it on over 200 machines when I was a site tech. Kids just love it. Great for really little ones too. I'm working on an instructional review on how to configure it with cool fonts for elementary kids. (I'll let you know when it's ready) I'm really looking forward to hearing the interview with the creator! Hurry up and download :)
Posted by: TheMacMommy | January 27, 2008 at 02:49 PM
I can't believe that you are actually saying that the soonest you need a computer for your children is in 3rd grade. My sons have had a computer since they were 2 1/2. My now 6 year old can operate a computer better than most people I know who are over 50 and my 3 year old can navigate the web on his own to the sites that are bookmarked (Noggin, pbs, etc). My 6yr old has even shown his Kindergarten teacher how to do things. In their kindergarten grade they have "computer class" three times a week.
To say that you should wait until 3rd grade would put the child massively behind in our area (Kansas). I believe that their exposure to the computer and the net has increased every level of their cognitive skills. They read better, they think better and they have hand/eye coordination that is amazing.
Just like anything, the sooner you can expose good things to a child the better they will learn it and remember it.
Oh, and our computers are located in the back of our family room (we have three, one for me, my wife and then the boys). You probably guessed it, but I'm in the computer industry and my wife works from home.
Posted by: TechRavingMad | January 28, 2008 at 11:37 AM
In Episode 31, when you were talking about turning old Christmas cards into placemats,
Leo said he was going to invent a large paper punch to cut out circles. TOO LATE LEO! Check out the Fiskar Circle Cutter here:
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/circlecutter.html
Love the shows, keep 'em coming!
Rich
Posted by: Rich | January 28, 2008 at 02:34 PM
we have the main computer in our bedroom (the adults use laptops elsewhere). It's the most "central" place we can find, right now. Our room is right next to the kitchen, so I can hear what they're doing and pop in all the time to check. My kids are 4 and 7. They mostly play PBS games, but the 7 yo is venturing into youtube, thanks to friends with older sibs. I have to be careful to be sure he doesn't wander off there.
We're going to do some remodeling soon and will create a work place in the kitchen to use until they get older. Then, I guess we'll have to figure out what comes next.
btw, we only have tv in the living room.
It's an interesting topic.
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