anyone familiar with MIT's 'scratch' platform?
It looks like it's geared towards kids and educators but it's similar to Max in some ways. They use 'blocks' instead of objects which fit together like puzzle pieces rather than patch cords. It's not remotely as powerful as Max but it looks like an interesting option for young kids to get started in a more visual form of programming.
Here is an example:
I have written few tutorials on SCRATCH accompanied by their demos.