• Editing a text file (I guess writing a story has that covered?)

• Deleting a program (I did not know how to remove programs for the longest time as a kid… this was on windows, mind you. I figured just deleting the desktop icon was all it took. Oops.)

• Changing display resolution and scale (Really just poking around the accessibility menu in general is valuable, lots of useful stuff even for someone with good vision etc.)

Do you intend to include internet/web surfing, or hold back on that until later?

Search engines can be very useful, while also being awful.

But I do think teaching the kiddo how to navigate the website of your local library would be a good lesson for them.

My kids have Raspberry Pi 400s (which I ought to upgrade to 500s, as they complain about them being too slow).

I think those specifically are a good choice for this use-case because they come with a big (physical, paper!) book that teaches kids all sorts of stuff that can be done with them.

My kid was all in on Tux Paint for a good while.

He eventually settled in to make cars and cats, but at first he just enjoyed making abstract art with all the colors and paintbrushes.

It’s never too early to learn navigating drives and folders using the command line!

Give them the gentoo install guide.

• Krita is free and awesome for that age. Maybe install it together. If you have a tablet or touch screen, it’s really fun.
• How familiar are you with (also free) Blender? You would have to install it and learn the basics. Just the 3d sculpting program might be a blast for him and have him edit a UV sphere. There are a few basic tips to get you going, but kids pick it up way easier than adults do.
  • The object mode is for the overall, individual objects
  • The edit mode is to work on, inside, the object you select
  • You absolutely have to have a scroll mouse
  • There is a description in the lower left corner that lets you edit the mesh you’re “adding” or putting in, then it goes away. This messes up a lot of people.
  • At the top are tabs that let you select a layout for Blender for each focus. There is one for sculpting.
  • The upper right has a lot of icons that let you move around the program (solid, see-thru, etc., and perspective. You would have to know this stuff.
  • This video is for you right now if you don’t know anything, and for him in a couple of years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOmYInaX-wE
• Have him search Wikipedia on something he loves and to look for the sources.
• Have him look for, speed up if necessary, and learn from youtube tutorials on topics that interest him.

Side note: Affinity (photoshop alternative) just became free, but I think that’s too much. Good to know about though.

Get them the Hello Ruby books, they’re great for that exact age

Ill steal some suggestions I liked from other commenters and add my own.

• Draw a picture
• Write a letter to someone
• Find home on the map and calculate distances to school, grandparents, friends, etc
• Make a simple song
• Design something simple using CAD software (you’d need to find something really simple to learn/use. Someone suggested a program that I assume allows you to design minecraft buildings external to minecraft)

And most importantly for me:

• Research one or several topics. Youd need to do the research yourself beforehand, as well as pick topics you know align roughly with your child’s areas of interest, but if they gain the skill of looking up information for themselves and finding the answer, pretty much anything is within their grasp IMO. Maybe set this as the first one so they can apply it for whatever further challenges you set them (extreme example but e.g. “How to create dog in blender” if you set them the task of using blender to design something). On that note, maybe set 2 distinct types of research topics - such as technical tasks and information tasks. What I mean is: “how do i install x, y, z program and use it” would be a technical task in my opinion, whereas something like “why are farmers legally forbidden from replanting seeds from their crops” would be an information task.

Best of luck!

Have you thought of using an Arduino, and let him program little things?

Maybe something creative, like making a poster in libre office?

I remember when i was 10-ish ms Word 97 was the shit. I liked to use word art to create and print my name and other texts. Children this age like to be creative if you show him a program and let him loose exploring it, he’ll learn a lot.

What was the curriculum you used for them to learn to read?

This is a wonderful idea.

Off hand, I would agree with understanding file navigation. I would suggest you make a sort of capture the flag treasure hunt. First round, find the file. Second round, move the file. Third round, rename the file.

Installing and uninstalling apps, including looking at reviews online to see what app is best for drawing, for example. Say the challenge is you can only install 2 apps and can only keep one.

Hour to add and delete bookmarks from the browser.

Good luck with this!

You can make an image of the / drive so it’s easier to restore if they break the system.

I you can slowly teach them to use the command line, if they can read fluently using the cli shouldn’t be that hard. You can teach them the basic commands, and teach them to install a program with apt.

Also, you said write a short story? The teach them vim (or emacs if you prefer that).

You can install vmpk (or some other music keyboard emulation program) so they can play some music. And if they get more interested get them LMMS and later ardour + advanced stuff.

Krita is a super nice program to draw, and colour (tho no fun without a drawing tablet), maybe you can teach them vectorial drawing on inkscape. And if they like it then install Blender and go 3D.

From cmd line, run a game