The first time a child plays, he/she effectively writes her/his first line of code. The neat thing about all this is that children can do so without the need for literacy or numeracy.
We see all sorts of on screen and off-screen products that deal with the subject of programming and early learning. They are either to advanced, to complex or completely useless.
The earliest thing we found was something called www.Codebabies.com , which we thought was a bit of a parody at first (not their more advanced stuff which is OK, but their early range products).
In terms of physical toys the best one we could find is the super popular Bee-bot. While being a great toy, we thought it missed the point a little bit.
Here is a link to the product we are launching shortly. The actual packaging has changed slightly, this is footage we took while the product was still a University project. It's slicker and designed for mass production/consumption. Any feedback or conversation around the topic and/or product is massively appreciated.
http://tinyurl.com/on9zj9q