1) Which version of python is your class using?
2) Do you feel comfortable with data structure?
3) Tkinter is something to make basic GUI(Graphics User Interface), I believe pygame is a 3rd party module used to create games, Command - line menu, Basically controling user input through the command line in windows or for example bash terminal in Mac/Linux. Here are two books for pygame. (you need an account to see links) , (you need an account to see links) , I believe both are free.
4) solve some identified problem
Personally for the problem I might just do something that's a tiny bit math heavy and hard to do by hand for example a simplified version of taxes, where the program prompts the user for input in the command line or with a gui like tkinter and you calculate how much the user is paying in each bracket and maybe it write the results to a text file and reading from the text file when it displays the results. Be sure to ask a TA or the professor if this would work before you start writing it.
I'm happy to offer more of my two cents or some help when I have time just either mention me here or shoot me a pm.