I asked a similar question a while ago, for a 13 year old: http://news.ycombinat...

nimrody · on July 11, 2010

Can you report on what works and what does not?

Specifically, I'm interested to know whether Javascript in the browser is good enough, or too difficult to use in practice.

atestu · on July 11, 2010

Actually, my brother gave up before even trying (at this age "passions" are sometimes a very passing phenomenon).

I'd recommend pygame over web development. Making a video game is much more fulfilling at that age in my opinion. Ask any 12 year old "do you want to make a video game or a website?"

For an older kid (~16), web development with APIs such as Facebook can be interesting too, because (s)he'll want to brag about it to his/her friends.

nimrody · on July 12, 2010

Thanks!

I really like the Facebook app/games idea, since current video games set the bar way too high for any individual working alone. Making "Pong"-type of games will probably not impress anyone these days :)