I tried that with just two kids using PLT Scheme and Javascript. The biggest hurdle is convincing them that software is useful outside the development environme

I tried that with just two kids using PLT Scheme and Javascript. The biggest hurdle is convincing them that software is useful outside the development environment; we wrote apps for the desktop/GUI, console, and MySpace. Kids then tried to customize everything, including system utilities, Open Office, and their own 3rd party games. It was baffling how much they expected from their programming tools; they demanded full integration between compiler and whatever else they were running on their system. They don't understand that some software is extensible (The Dr. Scheme IDE) and others are not (Minesweeper, Bejeweled.), but that was mainly my fault because I did some magic behind the scenes and put their javascript "commands" in the firefox toolbar. My nephews kept thinking of functions, operators, and special forms (conditionals and iteration) as "objects". They wanted to put "title", "value" and "callback" on the "wrong" objects. For example, they could bind a callback to a button and have it popup when it was clicked; they want to attach a similar callback to a block of code and have it fired when the block was executed (a trivial problem to fix; just call your callback from the body of the code block, but they wanted to use call-back syntax.) I am sure they would have loved Squeak, but I didn't have the time to learn it on time; my previous experience with Smalltalk has been brief, mainly with GST and theoretic uses of Self. Kids are a tougher crowd to please than programmers with some "training", because children have not yet accepted whatever limitations imposed at us by "industry". They want the Ideal.