I think you need to go for just problem solving, not for programming. A shape sorter might be OK. Fisher Price made a remote control car that was very good fo

I think you need to go for just problem solving, not for programming. A shape sorter might be OK. Fisher Price made a remote control car that was very good for kids called a Bounce Back Racer. It was tough, so you didn't need to worry about a toddler breaking it, and it could flip over; so there wasn't really frustration with it being undrivable if something didn't work. You get to push buttons, see something happen, and have feedback. You can try to make the car go to Mommy or Daddy, so it seems like that is a start to having a machine do your bidding.