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"Computer Science Unplugged is a collection of free learning activities that teach Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around."
Definitely worth a mention.
It also missed the book built around Racket for first time programmers - Realm of Racket[2].
[1]: http://racket-lang.org [2]: http://nostarch.com/realmofracket
The age recommendations on this are way off This article recommends Scratch for 12 and up. Scratch is good for kindergartners and up. The Snap fork is more appropriate for older students: http://byob.berkeley.edu/ This article recommends Lego Mindstorms for ages 9-12 (and python and ruby). The average age of people who used to buy Lego Mindstorms was 28. The box recommends it for kids over 10. Lego has a robotics kit…
It starts with an abacus and 400 pages later of flip-flops, memory gates, and microprocessors it leaves you with a fully built modern computer.
That said, I would not put it in a beginner category. I read it after 4 years of ASM programming and building electrical gadgets and I still had to stop and reread chapters quite a few times until I got all the concepts out of it.
If you're at all interested in how all the parts in your computer interact and work together at the lowest level, READ THIS BOOK.
Also, there's Berkeley's Snap!, which is a browser-based version of MIT's Scratch, with some advanced additions like first class procedures. (http://snap.berkeley.edu/)
The age recommendations on this are way off This article recommends Scratch for 12 and up. Scratch is good for kindergartners and up. The Snap fork is more appropriate for older students: http://byob.berkeley.edu/ This article recommends Lego Mindstorms for ages 9-12 (and python and ruby). The average age of people who used to buy Lego Mindstorms was 28. The box recommends it for kids over 10. Lego has a robotics kit…
The most important issue with this kind of lists is taking programming literally. I think "pre-programming" approaches like http://mydoodlegame.com/ can be very useful before jumping to code.
The age recommendations on this are way off This article recommends Scratch for 12 and up. Scratch is good for kindergartners and up. The Snap fork is more appropriate for older students: http://byob.berkeley.edu/ This article recommends Lego Mindstorms for ages 9-12 (and python and ruby). The average age of people who used to buy Lego Mindstorms was 28. The box recommends it for kids over 10. Lego has a robotics kit…