Tell us a bit more about your background as well as something about the requirements for the project. How much time do you have? Are you limited in the amount of money you have available?
If you are in US, Radio Shack has a few books with simple projects. Those may or may not be too basic.
From what I've seen of PICs or other microcontroller projects it would seem that it is within the capability of some high schoolers. A BASIC Stamp or similar might be easier in terms of the electronics. Whether PIC, stamp, etc - it brings programming into the project - pretty much a part of all modern electronics.
Tell us a bit more and we'll see what we can do to help guide you.