The best tool I ever used to learn about circuits was a Radio Shack electronics kit. It was something I could pick away at for years as kid, and eventually develop an intuitive sense for reading a schematic.
Completely agree. This was my first practical kit. I bought one recently from John Lewis in the UK and they are very under-rated. A few $ worth of components but most importantly, a neat paper booklet with a tonne of example circuits including how to wire them on the spring posts.
I would always recommend this as a start for young children before then going back to some theory and "why did this circuit behave this way"
I believe that Elenco continues to make a version of it: https://shop.elenco.com/consumers/electronic-playground-130....