There is polymer clay, which you need a dedicated table top oven to use, and air-dried clay which is self explanatory. The air-dried clay would be the best to start with since you need to keep costs down. DAS Pronto is a good clay to start with. It comes in terra cottta and white. I usually get the terra cotta and I dry it in my regular oven.

She would probably need a set of tools to help her sculpt with. They are inexpensive and can be bought at Michael's. Michael's has just about everything to work with clay with. If you want to go to the expense of buying a pasta maker, yep, a spaghetti machine, that would be nice, too, but absolutely not necessary to have. It depends on what kind of sculpting she wants to do. They have books, etc. Someone in that department should be able to help you with your selections. They also usually have a 40% coupon in the Sunday paper that you could use on the pasta machine if you want to buy it.

Hope this meager information helps you.