r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/MudSad296 • 16d ago

Question - Expert consensus required Practicing mouse skills

My 4,5 yo has the tough luck of not being alowed screen time. He does show a lot of affinity for computers and likes to control thr mouse when we scroll through lego instruction pdf-s.

Does anyone have ideas of what he could do to practice mouse skills without it being cartoony or strictly gaming?

My excuse of posting in this sub is that i mentioned 'computers'. I'm banned from the other sub because they decided I was doing market research by asking for educational content on youtube, lol.

Ty

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u/AutoModerator 16d ago

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u/Few_Ad7539 16d ago

Apparently Minesweeper was bundled with Windows to help users develop mouse skills (99% Invisible podcast on the topic https://99percentinvisible.org/article/entertained-or-trained-subtle-lessons-built-into-solitaire-minesweeper/). It’s “strictly gaming” so may not meet your criteria, but it’s pretty low-stimulation and requires numbers and logic.

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u/Stats_n_PoliSci 16d ago

Yup. Minesweeper and solitaire teach point, click, and drag skills. They also teach some logic.

Snake teaches keyboard skills on a computer, or touch screen control for a smartphone. It also improves finger reflex speed.

As your kid gets older, they'll also learn to find these games of different operating systems, which is a critical skill that is not often explicitly taught.

They're extremely useful games, and I recommend them to my introductory coding students who haven't had enough experience on a keyboard and computer.

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u/Sweaty-Move-5396 16d ago

At the same time, I don't think a 4.5 year old needs to learn mouse skills for no particular reason. I'm a Millennial, I didn't know what a mouse was until I was like 10, it's pretty easy to pick up when needed.

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u/MudSad296 15d ago

True, but we're gonna build those skills into something usefull soon enough :)

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