definately python over javascript!<p>-interactive shell<p>-easy to debug<p>-lot of great simple graphics libraries too<p>-making 3d shapes is funner than div containers<p>For 3d shapes, <a href="http://vpython.org" rel="nofollow">http://vpython.org</a> is a good simple library. He will be able to figure out how to get balls rolling around in no time.<p>For a media library with sound for making 2d games, definately go with SFML (simple fast multimedia library) over pygame: <a href="http://www.sfml-dev.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.sfml-dev.org/</a><p>It's faster and also has versions for C, C++, .Net, D, and ruby, so if he wants to learn one of those languages later he can try to port his game.