To solve the issue of not having access to materials locally, you could set up a walled-garden internet shop that kids can order from at reasonable prices without their parents’ credit card… well, it would be with their parents’ credit card, but it’d be on an iTunes gift card type system.
It could tie in with sites like Maker Shed, which already offers great (though somewhat pricey) kits for kids interested in programming and electronics specifically. Partner with American Science & Surplus to provide a constant stream of new, interesting tools and apparatus type things (and have someone on staff who can come up with suggested ideas of things to do with everything). Partner with Ward Science, a supplier of science supplies to schools, to provide kids chemicals and stuff like that.
As an aside, the dude Ward who started the company (in Rochester, NY) is buried in the cemetery next to the University of Rochester (my alma mater) and was really into rocks and geology (I believe the company started as a supply house for earth science education). His grave marker is an enormous unusual boulder that Ward brought back from Africa expressly for that purpose.
Anyway - make the “kit” less of a kit in the traditional sense (and completely unlike the modern one-off sense). Make it instead an access token to an endless supply of new things to try - all online, of course. Have it go from the most basic of things - including exciting but simple stuff like Mentos and Diet Coke that require no special materials - to advanced, complex stuff that rewards patience.
