> Doesn't exactly look like the ultimate tool for an 8 year old
> beginner...! ;-)

Then you'd be surprised to know that my 4-year-old brother loves to scrape across the LMMS virtual keyboard - with a touchpad at that. He also knows that dragging a different item from the left side gives him a different sound. Once he's bored enough I'm taking him on to the next step - placing the notes in the piano roll and pressing "play".