I probably can't be of much help because I doubt you'll find much. Used to be we had local Heathkit places and Lafayette I think sold Knight kits. I r emember the olman and me with my first kit, build a small transmitter. Hear ing my voice coming out of the big stereo in the livingroom was so cool.
The thing had springs to make the connections. Pull up, insert wire from th e transistor or whatever and release. Super simple, I think it only came wi th two transistors. I doubt you'll have the same effect with a modern day b readboard, though some of them do come with some parts and sample circuits to build, maybe something like that. I would try to get one with discrete c omponents as that will teach more, at least if he does RTFM.
Things like Heathkits teach how to solder and all that, mechanical skills, but not so much electronics. That is in the manual, the nuts and bolts cann ot replace the manual. The key to that is reading of course. When I was a k id I actually preferred books to toys for Christmas. I really don't know ho w to instill that kind of interest, if it even can be done. It may be you a re born with it.
A nice simple kit, and depending on the age I think a small transmitter wou ld be good, something to make the kid say "How the heck does this thing wor k ?". You can't force feed them, that's the job of the schools and you see the results of that.
It really is too bad that technology has gotten so out of hand. Before I wa s a teenager I took two transformers from tube equipment and ran them inlin e to boost up the voltage and had a "jabob's ladder" made with two coathang ers embedded into a piece of styrofoam. Of course it could only run for a s hort time because the second tranformer was working well beyond its ratings . But I could have died very easily.
Then we rent this house and there is a really old TV there. I stick my hand in and ZZZAP ! It had the old style CRT with the metal bell, not aquadag. I still have the HV filtering caps from it.
Now, like at schools, everything has to be battery powered usually. Someone was on Usenet here a few years ago wanted to do a little demonstration/lec ture type thing on electronics and found out they would not allow him to br ing in a scope because it plugged into the wall. I guess I can understand b ut it is a shame that our sue happy society has gotten to this point.
Maybe the best thing would be YOU. got a workshop in your basement ? Got a scope ? An old CRO is a powerful brainmagnet. How about get the kid an old
20 MHz job for like $35 on eBay and just a few things to test, like a micro phone, or speaker. If he has any interest he will be hooking it up to every thing, but that is not necessarily the way to go. Teach him what voltage is , and I mean administer an electric shock at least once so he learns to res pect electricity. Remember it can still be lethal. Couple of shock taught m e, boy did they teach me. Had the circumstances been a bit different I coul d have been dead right then and there.
But the CRO I think is a decent idea. He can hook it up to some speaker wir es and get the idea what sound is, and then turn up the bass and see the bi g waves get bigger, or turn up the treble and see the little waves get bigg er. Learn what frequency is. Maybe even find him one of those cheap Casio k eyboards that run on a wallwart and make an adapter so he can hook the scop e to that.
It is kinda a same that the young of today can't start where we started. Yo u could break open a tube and see the grids and get a real idea of how the thing works. Can't do that with a transistor. Even less so with an IC.
Just throwing some ideas here, you know the situation, I don't. He doesn't like to read ? I would address that. Bring him to your Man cave and show hi m some cool stuff and sooner or later you get "How does that work ?". Then you got him. break out a book. (or these days wiki it, but that is still re ading)