more than books and materials, I've found hard to find actual software that could be a good first step. I really miss BASIC and Hyper Card. The problem is that while you could still get your kids to code BASIC and play in actual hyper card, they don't represent the "state of the art". At the time, BASIC and HyperCard could get you really close to what was being offered over the counter as paid software.

Today, the barrier is so much higher, so while you could still get them to play in python (not ideal and really complex compared to BASIC) and maybe scratch, there's a really visible gap of what they can achieve without significant effort and steep learning curve.

I'm a bit more convinced that maybe going the route of scripted minecraft or roblox or even Horizon if you are into VR is probably the best way to get kids into programming.