Showing a kid how programming works

countdown.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
import os
import time

def countdown(message='Happy New Year!'):
    for count in range(10, 0, -1):
        print count
        os.system('say %s' % count)
        time.sleep(.3)

    os.system('say %s' % message)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    countdown(' '.join(sys.argv[1:]))