There's also the CARDIAC CARDboard Illustrative Aid to Computation, which simulates the control logic of a simple computer, giving the operator step-by-step ins

There's also the CARDIAC CARDboard Illustrative Aid to Computation, which simulates the control logic of a simple computer, giving the operator step-by-step instructions for how to proceed. In these modern times, it's more fun to program a virtual machine. The Dietel and Dietel "Java: How to program, 5th ed" had a project for the Simpletron computer simulator, which young me enjoyed. The projects around Simpletron included an assembler and later a compiler for a BASIC-like language.