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Color By Numbers to Learn the Computer

© Phebe A. Durand

A friend of mine began her first day of teaching last week. She's been through all of the university courses, is fully accredited, and is now walking terrified of a room of 10 yr. olds - stage fright, to be sure. The point is that she needed something to start with that would be both entertaining and educationally profitable.

Many of us start out the year in much the same way, a bundle of nerves. We have to grab our young student's attention quickly, set a good tone for the year, and actually offer something that they will gain from. This lesson is dedicated to that need.

Every single PC computer contains a little program called "Paint". I'm sure you're well acquainted with it. Have you ever stopped to think about the skills this easy little program can teach, though? First of all, it gets students familiar with using the Start Menu, locating and opening programs, opening and saving files, printing, and properly closing programs. In addition to these necessary skills (which are often familiar to young students, but can always be reviewed), you're giving the students an opportunity to gain or improve upon their mouse motor skills. Think how difficult it was for you to learn how the mouse works - it can seem like a cursed creature, separate from the natural world, with a mind of its own. It takes a good while to learn how to operate it, and playing in Paint offers students an easy, fun, and non-intimidating way to learn it.

Alright, so here's the deal. Below are a series of 5 graphics with links below them. The graphics let you know what the finished product should look like, and what you're dealing with. The link lets you download a zip file that contains both this colored graphic, and an un-colored version of the graphic which is for the student to use (this is MUCH easier than trying to get a web browser to quickly display a large .bmp file).

While you introduce the series of 5 lessons, which can be masked as a constructive play-time, perform the following instruction steps:

1. Show the students how to open the Paint program from the Start Menu.
2. Within Paint, show students how to locate and open a graphic (you might create separate folders for each student who uses a particular computer, so that they can open and save their work from that folder).