[logfromblammo]

First, make the game. Then, make your game playable on a computer platform.

Do not make the technical decisions until you first understand the reasons why they need to be made.

Is the goal of this exercise to have a completed video game as the end result, or to have a child motivated to learn how to make such games? If the latter, it may be prudent to build up to the final product, by starting with "Hello World", implementing command-line interface "Tic-Tac-Toe" or "Hunt the Wumpus", moving on to a 2-D falling tetromino game, doing a simple 3-D demo, and so on.

But either way, the initial focus should be on making a fun game, and the details of the execution subordinate at all times to the question "Does this make it more fun to play?"

[bramm]

Yes, this is definitely a combination of learning, bonding, discerning interest level.

We've already began the planning and sketching stages, but we want to get our hands dirty soon.

No matter what the end result is, this will be a great learning experience.