Lightbot: Puzzles Game Using Programming Logic

Also, most of these games actually look like you could learn something from them, while having fun...

I'd say it's more about assembly language than general programming. You never (really) get enough power, with the 9 opcodes it gives you, to set up subroutines or functions. And many of the monstrosities that end up solving the problem would probably horrify Dijkstra in his grave. :)

My 5 yr old tried human resource machine the other day, got a couple of levels, but that ramped up way too fast for him. I'm afraid that this might ramp up a bit fast, too, but maybe the Jr version would work.

He also plays with "hopscotch" - which is free and a little more free-form. It has some nice tutorial videos that walk you through building various simple games, or you can just do your own thing. (NB - he can read, which helps with that app.)

We're also gonna give the Lego Boost a go this Christmas (partially because I wanna play with it) - it also has a similar block-style of programming, but you get to move a physical robot. (Or any other lego creation.)

My one complaint was that it got too hard "all of the sudden". It seems like more puzzles in the middle difficulty level would increase the value and replay-ability of the game.