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Software that will entertain a 10 year old boy for hours...

M

mogzieee

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 8, 2008
668
1
London, UK
Hey guys,

I am having to go see my cousin, who is 10 years old, in a few weeks time, and I have the fortunate task of looking after / doing stuff with him all day. He likes technology, so I thought bringing my MBP along would entertain him somehow. However, I don't think many pro apps like Photoshop, Final Cut or Aperture are going to attract him, as he is 10. :p

So, my question, what programs/applications can anyone recommend that entertain my 10 year old cousin for a good few hours..? Arty... Games... doesn't really matter, so long as it's freeware (or something I can get a free trail of), and works with Leopard or XP (I run XP via VMware).

Many thanks in advance.

Moggy
 
Get him to install Windows on something. I've heard that can take a few hours...;)
 
Take him out a do something else. I'm sure there are lots of things to do in Oxford. Go stimulate the economy with your parents money :D. If not that then get him outdoors.

Good luck,

Nuc
 
Nuc said:
Take him out a do something else. I'm sure there are lots of things to do in Oxford. Go stimulate the economy with your parents money :D. If not that then get him outdoors.

Good luck,

Nuc
Click to expand...

There's some great museums in Oxford.
 
My niece (she's 10) loves to play around with pictures of herself in iMovie. We make movies, add music etc. Keeps her occupied for hours and distracts her from wanting to play with my iPhone. :D
 
rdowns said:
My niece (she's 10) loves to play around with pictures of herself in iMovie. We make movies, add music etc. Keeps her occupied for hours and distracts her from wanting to play with my iPhone. :D
Click to expand...

This is great idea. Take a camera along, take lots of silly shots (or play in Photobooth with the backgrounds etc) and make a movie. Let him play in Garageband to make a soundtrack for it and then encode it so he can stick it on YouTube to show his pals etc.
 
Applespider said:
This is great idea. Take a camera along, take lots of silly shots (or play in Photobooth with the backgrounds etc) and make a movie. Let him play in Garageband to make a soundtrack for it and then encode it so he can stick it on YouTube to show his pals etc.
Click to expand...

This is a good idea also... I didn't think of Photobooth! Thanks!
 
Can you get Big Fish games in the UK?

There are Mac games with one hour online demos for free.

My 10 year old neighbor especially likes the hidden objects games like Huntsville.


That said, I really like the idea of making movies, slideshows and using Garage Band better than my idea.
 
A lot of kids find fun at Yahoo! Games, unless you want to avoid Internet access and stick to local applications.

One kid I entertained had a great time listening to Pokémon music in the iTunes Store!
 
Create a goal

I think the most important thing is to have a common goal that you are working towards. Be sure that either he chooses or it's a mutual agreement. Perhaps you can do a DIY project, capture it with a camera (iPhoto edits), then create a web presence for it (iWeb).

You could make model cars, exotic food, movie green screens, simple electronics, etc.

Or you could teach them basic programming with the same sort of project based idea as above. Import pictures of your cousin, and animate him in a simple 2d side scrolling game. Tons of examples of this being done, as well as other ideas are available with great programs like MIT Scratch.

Other tools might be:
Art Rage
World of Goo
Cave Story (Be sure to download the English patch). Can keep him busy for hours.
 
If he enjoys photography or movies you can make a nice few days of going out and shooting. Then you get the nice mix of being outdoors also.

Maybe make a 30 minute documentary about something he enjoys--skateboarding, facebook, his family, etc. You can interview his friends get some nice footage/photos and then put it all together in iLife. We've made a bunch of Spy Kids type movies with my nieces and my kids.

Another great app for kids is iStopMotion. http://www.boinx.com/istopmotion/overview/

Especially if he is into Legos at all. This is a huge time sink as you are doing real stop motion animation. Set up some Star Wars Legos and act out a whole scene.
 
bartelby said:
Get him to install Windows on something. I've heard that can take a few hours...;)
Click to expand...

and if he get through the windows set up too quickly (I mean he's got to be smart if he's the son of a MR member) then have him set up any linksys wireless router; he will have endless entertainment resetting the router every 3 hours.
 
As others have said, take a camera and make videos.

Make a short film with him and maybe he'll really enjoy it. Who knows he might even want to pursue it later as a career!

I speak of experience as this is how I fell in love with film and photography :)
 
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