I would suggest an iPad with Codea. Codea has a game called 'Cargo Bot' that teaches the basics of algorithmic thinking without the nomenclature that trips

I would suggest an iPad with Codea. Codea has a game called 'Cargo Bot' that teaches the basics of algorithmic thinking without the nomenclature that trips up a lot of people. The codea development environment has lots of tutorials and examples that let people explore and play with things in a nice way.