That's a really broad-reaching statement, much more so than might seem to a casual reader.
In an ideal case, each of these devices would:
1) Be open-source
2) Be programmable in a stack of kid-friendly languages, with a stack including Blockly, CircuitPython/JavaScript, and full-fledged kernel hacking
3) Clean, clear documentation and web interfaces for doing this
4) Integration with a secure non-wifi protocol like Zigbee
5) Have a standard, maintained back-end, so things like security fixes can hit all devices, no matter the sensors
Kids can (and some would) learn to do things much as they do with Scratch or Hour-of-Code projects, and it'd just be a different dynamic. There is a mint to be made there if a platform like Tuya could pivot here.
It's a decent chunk of work, but far from astronomical.
Step 2 would be to do something similar for HomeAssistant, or for a similar platform, and there ought to be devices which ship with that. The Zigbee coordinator should be programmable, configurable, and kid-friendly to do so. It should also automatically install security updates (ideally, via Ubuntu, rather than the vendor; Ubuntu is looking to make money; a $5-per-device plan for long-term remote maintenance would do it a lot better than giving me warnings about my machine being insecure, and if I won't pretty-please opt into having them track me with their premium platform)
In an ideal case, each of these devices would:
1) Be open-source
2) Be programmable in a stack of kid-friendly languages, with a stack including Blockly, CircuitPython/JavaScript, and full-fledged kernel hacking
3) Clean, clear documentation and web interfaces for doing this
4) Integration with a secure non-wifi protocol like Zigbee
5) Have a standard, maintained back-end, so things like security fixes can hit all devices, no matter the sensors
Kids can (and some would) learn to do things much as they do with Scratch or Hour-of-Code projects, and it'd just be a different dynamic. There is a mint to be made there if a platform like Tuya could pivot here.
It's a decent chunk of work, but far from astronomical.
Step 2 would be to do something similar for HomeAssistant, or for a similar platform, and there ought to be devices which ship with that. The Zigbee coordinator should be programmable, configurable, and kid-friendly to do so. It should also automatically install security updates (ideally, via Ubuntu, rather than the vendor; Ubuntu is looking to make money; a $5-per-device plan for long-term remote maintenance would do it a lot better than giving me warnings about my machine being insecure, and if I won't pretty-please opt into having them track me with their premium platform)