One I've used with 4th and 5th grade kids is to graph your first name
- on real graph paper (usually about 6 lines high and 4 to 6 columns
wide).  Then write the PRINT statements to format the name on the
screen.

Then the fun part.  Make an outer loop with a variable name of PAPER
and a range of 0 to 7, and an inner loop with a variable name of INK
and a range of 0 to 15.  Use the variables to set the color of the
text each time through the loop.

FOR PAPER = 0 TO 7
FOR INK = 0 to 15
COLOR INK, PAPER
PRINT 'separator line
PRINT "JJJJJ  OOOO  H  H  N  N
'top row of "JOHN" - you can picture the rest
PRINT 'separator line
'add some delay here so it doesn't scroll off the screen before it can
be read.
NEXT INK
NEXT PAPER

You can also clear the screen at the beginning of each color pair for
a different way of displaying the result.

Other additions are to use random numbers for PAPER and INK, to check
if PAPER and INK are the same color and change one of them, to adjust
the value of the INK variable on each line so that the displayed name
is a rainbow.

Have fun!

Visit my source code page at http://www.*-*-*.com/ ~johnecarter
Visit my favorite school at http://www.*-*-*.com/ ~addison

    First of all, she's pretty smart to start learning QBasic at age 9.  I'm
14 and I still have a little trouble with it sometimes.

    Now to your question.  One program that you should think of helping her
create is a simple math program.  These can range from several things:

   * A standard calculator
   * A calculator for computing compound intrest (X$ * Y Percent for Z
Years)

    Once she gets a little older, you could have her work with files. You
could have her make a word processor, or something along those lines.

    Even I have a little trouble coming up with programming ideas.  You
wouldn't believe the number of programs that I have started, and never
finished because they got to look boring.

    Any way, that's my two cents.

Brandon Bagwell