You can teach them most aspects of game development without making them write a single line of code. My recommendation to you is to use Atmosphir for your project which allows users to make their own virtual worlds and levels very easily using a simple, yet very flexible design tool. In that site i've seen creations by 12 yo kids that would blow your mind.

I didn't read TFA but let me guess: This "IceCube" telescope is being built by Doctor Dre, funded by an Arabian Prince and it should be Eazy-E.

Yella(t) your friends about this, looks pretty cool.