I learned young on a Child's machine that I still have. However, today I was at KMart and they had a Singer Pixie-Plus that had more than the chain stitch, I think it has 4-6 stitches. It definitely would have been more fun than the machine I started on.
Also, if you machine has a speed control on it, they could learn the control that everyone is talking about by setting it on "turtle speed."
Happy quilting,
Susan