Twice in the past couple of weeks, Mason has made some pretty cool things using some pretty limited computer resources.

About two weeks ago, Mason started working on a fake newspaper for school. First, he and some of his friends came up with some fake news stories (“Justin Bieber has been arrested!”). Then, Mason typed them into Notepad on the computer and printed them out. After the stories were printed out he cut them out and taped them to other sheets of paper to make a crude newspaper, leaving blank spots for illustrations (which he later added by hand).

Mason has also started drawing on the computer with MS Paint. As anyone who has ever tried can tell you, drawing with MS Paint is a maddening experience. Despite the tool’s limitations, Mason has managed to crank out some decent looking drawings, all things considered.

Over the next week or two, I plan on upgrading some of his software and letting him explore some more. I don’t think he’s quite ready for PhotoShop, but maybe if I can some up with something a little better than MS Paint, I’ll throw it on his machine. Likewise, he’s not ready for PageMaker yet, but I’m thinking about throwing either PrintShop or PrintMaster on his machine. More than a few school newspapers and club mailers were created with those programs. They’re structured enough that they’re simple to learn, but have enough wiggle room for kids’ creativity.

I have an old copy of PageMaker out in the garage. It’s so old, in fact, that I’m not even sure it runs on XP. If it does, I’ll have to install it on Mase’s computer and see what he does next.