Michael Kohl

I put together a website collecting links to various programming languages/environments specifically targeting children (if anybody wants to make a prettier stylesheet for it, let me know):

http://www.happynerds.net/

Generally I'd advise starting with something interactive and fun, like eToys or Mindstorms. After that a project like Hackety Hack, Löve or Processing might be a good bridge into more "serious" programming. Some people also seem to like the HTML and JavaScript approach, because the development environment (a browser) is available virtually everywhere and it has a very short feedback cycle. I'm not too convinced of that, but YMMV.

Once your kid has the basics down, possibilities are almost endless. There's a plethora of freely available books (legally), of which I compiled a small subset here:

http://citizen428.net/archives/434

I'm also involved in teaching Ruby courses on RubyLearning.org, and while definitely not targeted at 10 year olds, our core Ruby course should be doable for a motivated teenager willing to learn.

Whatever you do, I think the most important thing is to focus on the fun. If kids enjoy what they do, they can learn super fast and will happily come back for more :-)

Upon doing some more research and compiling a list of things to go through I've found the following:

http://guides.rubyonrails.org/

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/

http://manwithcode.com/299/making-games-with-ruby-ep-1-intro/

http://learn.knockoutjs.com/#/?tutorial=intro

http://peepcode.com/

http://railsforzombies.org/

http://ruby.railstutorial.org/

http://citizen428.net/blog/2010/08/12/30-free-programming-ebooks/

http://www.trybloc.com/courses/ruby-warrior/chapters/beginner#/1

and I've completed: http://tryruby.org/levels/1/challenges/1

- just for those interested in the progress I've made so far