i bought my kids hand made wooden stickbows, 49.99 each , unfinished wood. they had a great time drawing thier own " cave-picture" type designs on them, then staining and clearcoating. they love to shoot them, and shoot them well. not many moving parts on those sticks,
and i believe that mastering traditional will only help them in the long run , whatever type of equipment they eventually choose to learn.
just have fun!
-moose