I did a fair bit with a solderless breadboard when I was a teenager, components just push into the connectors on the board. Obviously this won't let you use sur

I did a fair bit with a solderless breadboard when I was a teenager, components just push into the connectors on the board. Obviously this won't let you use surface mount components but you can get started. If I was that age now then an FPGA dev board would be good too. Another comment suggested working at a hackerspace, you might need your own "toys" to take there.