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If kids are interested in programming, just point them at https://codecombat.com/
Kids that will be natural programmers won't even need a teacher to play
If SJWs want more girls in programming, they should fork https://github.com/codecombat/... and make a version that is more appealing to young girls.

Just let them play https://codecombat.com/ If they do well and like it, they may be suited to program. The majority of the population simply cannot think like a programmer. In my anecdotal experience a simple loop confuses over half of the populous. Once you throw in algorithms, data structures and simple recursion you lose 80% of the rest and of what's left only about half have total grasp of the basic concepts; and that is totally fine. As my thermodynamics instructor used to say "Different people are different". We don't mandate that every kid play baseball, yet there are plenty of major league players. The uninterested and bad players self select out early on while the rest get eliminated by more and better competition. The rest keep playing because of the love of the game and because the incentive for success in the field outweighs the investment they put into honing their skills.
We don't need more 3rd string programmers; we need incentives (pay+benefits) to keep starters from switching sports.
How many programming wizards do you know that haven't moved on to another (better pay/benefits) field after a decade or 2?

How about this, it's being taught.

Colleges aren't moving their freshmen engineering programming courses from MATLAB/FORTRAN to Perl, they're moving it to Python.

High school and middle school students doing code combat in Perl.

It's nice that you've had your head buried in what ever you've been doing for the last 5 years but Python is here and it's here to stay big. It's the lingua franca of programming for the next decade or so. They have a higher chance of finding a tutorial on on what they're trying to do with 'How to ____ in Python".

The only people picking up Perl like those picking up FORTRAN & COBOL, they're doing it because they want a niche in industry, not because it's actually going to become more popular. Perl was a nice stepping stone but most people don't want to deal with it.

Ruby is great, and the most intuitive language I've seen in years. But your son will do VERY well. Scratch is a good place to start but as you point out it's not the end of all anything. Minecraft and Python definitely cool. But kids will want someone to help get past the "cage" of variables/control statements to see more of the result. You might do well with RPG MakerXP. Students love making their own interactive stories with that. Part of the challenge is keeping it fun. Robotics and game engines definitely help with that. So does a little competitive edge. :D

https://codecombat.com/
https://checkio.org/
https://www.codingame.com/star...
https://www.codewars.com/

Enjoy!

Simple answer to that question: To teach children how to break down a process. I learned programming concepts before I learned about other things. Coding CAN teach analytical skills if people don't just copy and paste. Of course when I learned programming from Logo, Basic and Pascal you couldn't use the Internet to look everything up. Just had to try and break down the problem. I've taught children as young as 6 programming concerts and others are trying to teach the basic concepts at a younger age, like a game, which I think is rather brilliant. you can teach programming through board games.

https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (yes. believe it or not it CAN teach pattern recognition which is good for programming and other things)
http://home.bloxelsbuilder.com...
http://codemonkeyplanet.com/ (this one I haven't tired but it looks FUN
A simple answer besides giving more ideas of how, is because you don't have to be a math wiz to be a great programming. It's about problem solving. I've always seen it as a a MacGyver type of affair: see the problem use what you have, make it work. Math can help, but not essential. Problem solving skills and being able to break a task down is THE most important part of programming, and that children should be developing as fast as they can for everyday life.

Oh, for video games that teach programming:

https://codecombat.com/
https://checkio.org/
https://vim-adventures.com/
http://www.cyber-dojo.org/
https://lightbot.com/
http://importantlittlegames.co...
https://www.gog.com/game/space...
https://www.gog.com/game/human...
http://www.machineers.com/#_=_
http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/pro... (this is more for making RPG games rather than a game, but students from 11+ seem to like it, I specifically link to the "XP" version because the others seemed less intuitive for students)

For aspiring writers to do their craft and do/learn programming:

https://renpy.org/ (specifically for graphic novels, the rest are all text only)
http://textadventures.co.uk/sq...
http://textadventures.co.uk/qu...
http://inform7.com/ (for zork fans especially)
http://www.tads.org/
https://twinery.org/

I've used many of these to help in teaching programming to children of various ages. Hope you all find this list useful.

I'm a huge fan of https://codecombat.com/ for teaching my son to code, you can pick from python or javascript and possibly a few others. There's an RPG version for home players, and a structured lesson plan for use in a classroom that you can buy.

Already got it. :-) It's the 7th entry, right below pragprog ...

* https://pragprog.com/book/ahmi... [pragprog.com]
* http://codecombat.com/ [codecombat.com]

Thanks for the suggestion though!

Add http://codecombat.com/ to that list.

Add http://codecombat.com/ to that list.

Can we get a FAQ please? Here are the common answers:

* Visually with Angry Birds characters: http://learn.code.org/hoc/1
* Scratch
* http://coderdojo.com/
* Minecraft mods
* http://www.learntomod.com./
* https://pragprog.com/book/ahmi...
* http://codecombat.com/
* http://boardgamegeek.com/board...
* http://boardgamegeek.com/board...
* http://www.gamebooks.org/show_...
* http://venturebeat.com/2014/06...
* http://meetedison.com/
* BASIC
* Vic-20 C64 Compute! magazine
* Raspberry Pi
* Arduino
* Logo

My kid loves this one: http://codecombat.com/

I got him started on it when he was 10, and he completed all of the free levels in two weeks with minimal help after I worked with him through the first few.

Lots of other great recommendations here: http://venturebeat.com/2014/06...

The board game one I've heard is good for younger kids, but once they have it down it's rather boring.

-Rick

The Raspberry Pi was designed exactly for this purpose. You can program it in Python or Scratch, but also many other languages. In regards to programming, I spent a fair share of time with VB6, ObjectPAL, Pascal, C, Assembler, Delphi, VB.NET and Java. Except for VB6 (which is unfortunately dead) they are all cumbersome and needlessly complicated. I eventually found my home with PHP, you want to do X then the command to use it typically X. PHP is also excellently documented and as demanded by others is a marketable skill. Yes, it has shortcomings and is quirky at times, but despite its simplicity you can do a lot of awesome things...and that even without object oriented programming. Just yesterday I came across https://codecombat.com/ (might even have been from a /. article), it is a game that teaches coding skills. I didn't have time yet to evaluate if it is any good.

You should take a look at http://codecombat.com/ it is an interactive website where you can learn to code by playing a game. I excuse in advance if someone else already suggested this site, I read a few answers and couldn't find any reference to it. Because I think it's a good resource and the target age is in line with your kid's age I'm taking the risk to annoy with redundancy