Maybe I'm strange, but my 3 year old son has his own computer. Now, it's not a fancy computer - in fact, it's one I was given for free when a friend finally upgraded. It's woefully slow and underpowered, even for many of today's websites. But it plays some older kids games (Windows 95 / 98 era) we were given just fine, and a few fun websites that are geared towards kids.
Recently my son has become enamored with a site that lets him paint, but it's painful to watch him struggle with the Flash interface, since the computer simply can't keep up. So when I heard about
TuxPaint, I had to give it a try.
TuxPaint is an open-source painting program geared towards kids aged 3-12. It installs rather painlessly, and you can download an optional package of stamps (think of it like clip art, with associated sounds) or install it without them. On my son's computer, the program works very nicely, but the stamps are a bit slow. Drawing tools are quite snappy, and the newly added feature of stereo sound is really remarkable - as you paint on the screen, the sound that comes from the paint brush (or really anything you're using in TuxPaint) is mixed between the left and right speaker depending on how close you are to either side of the screen. When I read about stereo sound being a feature of a drawing program, I was skeptical, but this truly adds to the experience of using the program.
I also really appreciate that there is a control panel utility that allows you to simplify the user interface for younger users, or enable advanced features for older kids. This is a program that will grow with your children.
Other features
introduced in version 0.9.16 include animated brushes that will effectively draw a critter following the cursor (leaving impressions as it goes), and brushes that can change shape depending on the direction they are moved, resulting in more natural looking strokes.
All in all, TuxPaint is a "must have" for any computer that is regularly used by children. It's free, full-featured, and fun. Oh, did I mention it's available for Windows (all versions), Mac OS X, and Linux (& even FreeBSD and NetBSD)?
Do you know those cool art spinning booths at festivals and carnivals? Of course you do, they're awesomesauce aren't they?
