I just got my DD a soldering kit and a Make Raspberry Pi kit for Christmas from Radio Shack this afternoon. She will need some parental guidance and supervision (safety will be a paramount concern) to start with but she has been making some pretty intricate Rainbow Loom designs over the past couple of years so I think she now has the dexterity required.
She will be starting the AoPS Intro to Python class next February so putting a computer together from components and learning to program ought to give her a solid footing. If she takes to this we will try some Arduino boards. I'll let you all now how it goes...
