Stand alone system for 5-8 yr olds

[Rodney Schuler]

My wife is director of a day care center.  Over the summer they will
be having some more, older, kids.  She has asked me to set up a stand
alone computer for the occasional entertainment of the 5-8 year old
children.

I have a 866Mhz P3 with 512MB ram with a 128MB ATI 9550 video card
running ubuntu feisty.  My 8yr old daughter enjoys planet penguin
racer on the machine so the performance should be acceptable for most
games.  I was planning to set it up with an automatic logon and a
bunch of game icons on the desk top.

Is this a reasonable plan for children in the 5-8 age group?  Do you
have any recommendation for games or edutainment packages that would
be appropriate for 5-8 year olds?