The Mintronics Bundle from the Maker Shed is a great way to get started with Arduino and electronics. It includes a MintDuino — a mint tin containing all the components you need to build a full-featured Arduino-compatible microcontroller — plus the Mintronics Survival Pack, another tin containing over 60 über-handy components you can use for quick fixes or complete electronics projects. (To upload your programs onto the ATmega328P microprocessor, you’ll also need an FTDI programmer like the FTDI Friend.)