CannedEssence uhmmmmm....speaking from a parent who has 3 kids and have tried different methods and is still currently trying to get them to understand game development i would not focus on the programming part because most of them won't get it, but more on the game art, graphics, game play, game design, level and the last thing would be coding because is all about making the game, and there is so much more that gets done before doing the game that a lot of people don't teach that and just jump straight into the core of game development which will only get the interest of a few and not fit the many who might be talent at art, or game design etc.