A while ago, when my son was 7 - I had gotten him a Polaroid. He loved taking pictures with them. After polaroid died - I just packed the camera away - and refocused and convinced my son on taikwondo and soccer.
The films from the impossible project - are quite impossible to afford on a regular basis - they have become fancy fine art things....
The digital cameras does not have the same feel as that of the polaroids..the instant paper prints are just plain magic.
He does use his iPod touch these days to take images...it is a multi-purpose device (has ipod and games) and has some pretty good apps...plus, he can show the images on the gallery and do post processing all by himself
In some way, I think we are already living in the future