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why don't you look for some kind of game that requires players to programm?
Colobot would be one example, but unfortunatelly it might not be suitable for mothers (you know, all this 3D and stuff)

You know, there are great games out there that teach programming, there are ones that teach Java (Robocode), critical problem solving (Mindrover) and (Roboforge), and you can find games that use their own, c++ - like languages (Colobot), and you can even find games that allow you to compete by writing assemly-like code: (Robocom) .

Really good indie game is the well thought out Planet Blupi. It is a RTS based game but holds that cartoonish look and great strategy. All in all I wish I could find it locally because it would make a great Christmas gift :)

Heres a snippet from the webpage


Planet Blupi is a stragtegie and adventure game for PC compatibles. It subtly blends action with thought-provoking challenges. Behind the quiet and gentle facade, you'll enjoy a fascinating diversion full of surprises. Planet Blupi is ideal for ages 12 to 99.

Is a rather cool game that includes a built in C style scripting language to control various robots whose tasks vary from hunting aliens to collecting ore. Nice graphics as well. The homepage is here.

give them a game to play which sneakly teaches them to program.

In the same vein, you have Colobot.

You have to program robots in a C and logo like language to make them do some tasks like explore a planet.

The primary goal of the game was to teach programming to kids.

It looks quite childish at first, but in fact it is really entertaining.

i found a nifty game called ColoBot thats quite fun where you write sub routines for functions in what appears to be very c/c++ like.

it teaches structured programming (according to them), and from what i've had a chance to play around with its pretty damned cool.

you can read up on it here

its not free, but you can download a free demo (win32 only sorry)