My oldest just turned 5, and while I don't think he's ready quite yet, I'm hoping he will be soon. When did you start? What language(s) did they seem to do the best with?
My oldest is 4 so I can't answer your question directly but I would like to share my thoughts on it.
First, do they have the prerequisites? Can they read sentences and understand flow of words on paper by themselves? Know numbers, addition and subtraction and some multiplication? Type on keyboard and/or use the mouse to navigate WIMP UI?
If they don't know all of those things yet, you could still play with things like Scratch[1] and then move into LOGO[2] soon after.
I think you can focus on those prereqs now and supplement with "programming-like" activities: Legos, calculators and an old laptop for figuring things out on their own. On a side note I finally found a use for the old OLPC[3] I impulsively bought a few years back :-)
My son is 6 months, so don't have any experience yet from this side, but my dad started teaching me GW-BASIC when I was about 7. I'm not sure what the modern equivalent would be. Python perhaps.
I taught myself to program when I was 12. I didn't have any books, or anyone to turn to for guidance. If I could do that, I think its perfectly reasonable that at 6 or 7, my son could start to pick up the basics if he so chooses. And if he's not interested, that's cool too.
Thanks for your helpful input but contrary to your expressed sentiments it's not obvious to parents that 5 is too young. My 3 y/o is able to easily navigate the ipad and the computer, play games, find and start movies, etc. I wouldn't be surprised to meet a 6 year old who understands basic programming expressions.
First, do they have the prerequisites? Can they read sentences and understand flow of words on paper by themselves? Know numbers, addition and subtraction and some multiplication? Type on keyboard and/or use the mouse to navigate WIMP UI?
If they don't know all of those things yet, you could still play with things like Scratch[1] and then move into LOGO[2] soon after.
I think you can focus on those prereqs now and supplement with "programming-like" activities: Legos, calculators and an old laptop for figuring things out on their own. On a side note I finally found a use for the old OLPC[3] I impulsively bought a few years back :-)
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_%28programming_language...
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_%28programming_language%29
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1