If he wants to learn then he's halfway there already. The best practice for learning is to pick a project you're interested in, figure out what tools you need, and DO it.
Want to make a super simple video game? Making pong in python.
Want to make a website for your family? Getting "hello world" running on Ruby on Rails in Heroku is an amazing start.
Want your own drone? Buy a quadcopter or robot kit and make some moves.
Teamtreehouse has motivating tutorials and are a great way to start.
Stack Overflow should solve any problems a beginner might run into.
The documentation for each language and tool is hugely important and often will help you get started.
Of course, the best motivation in life is to do what you love.