I suggest checking out this talk at Nashville's Barcamp '09.<p><a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2370164" rel="nofollow">http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2370164</a><p>Christopher did a good job talking about his approach to teaching a group of kids how to game. Syntax isn't as important at first - if you get them hooked on something simple like processing (<a href="http://processing.org/" rel="nofollow">http://processing.org/</a>), then they will learn syntax later. Most kids just want to see results as quickly as possible.