MacBooks with intel chip are some of the best hardware to put Linux on, there are plenty of guides online on how to liberate your MacBook with Linux.
I tested a bunch of distros based on Debian, Arch and Fedora. By far, the easiest one was EndeavourOS just because it recognized the WiFi driver from the Live USB for me. Otherwise you will need to use a mobile phone with USB tethering to share internet so you can install the broadcom driver. Maybe things changed, but this was my experience in 2023.
Another driver you will need to install is the camera facetimehd . Everything else worked out-of-the-box for me.
After that, all the Linux variants I tried worked great, and it was mostly about distro philosophies and deciding the desktop environments (DE) I wanted to use, and that can be a bit overwhelming at first.
If that is your first experience, I just recommend to start with KDE or gnome. I find gnome works ok from the start, but KDE is easier to tweak. You can always test them from a Linux Live USB before committing them to your hardware. Steam Deck uses KDE for desktop mode.
There are others that are prettier or lighter you can test too: cinnamon, XFCE, MATE. Or even windows managers, but I would leave them alone until you are a bit more comfortable with Linux.
here are a few links in case some people need it in the future:
- facetimehd https://github.com/patjak/facetimehd/wiki/Installation
- https://boilingsteam.com/liberating-the-macbook-air-2013-with-linux-complete-guide/ (sorry for the plug, but it shows all my experience installing with an in-depth guide)
- https://endeavouros.com/
Start with building a very cheap computer with your kid.
You can buy parts for cheap or sometimes get them for free from e-waste processing places. You can do the screws to the case, but let the kid put the parts in place while you explain what they do.
Parts are easy to handle, just make sure to not damage the components as they look cute and are a bit malleable, but put too much pressure you can destroy it (not sure a kid will be strong enough for that).
It is as easy as building Lego, or putting a cartridge on an old console. This will help to make the computer less scary.
Make sure that you can do it yourself and test the parts first before involving your kid, so they do not get too frustrated if it fails.
This will cover hardware.
You can also help them to install the OS.
After, make a list of the programs you want your kid to be aware of: calculator, place to write text, anything you think it will be useful. Take some time to explain them, and do some exercises with each - let’s write a letter to a friend, etc… Let them play around with it without judgment. (remove things you don’t want them to use).
If you want to give the child some background in how software works, Logo was very popular with kids at the school.
Logo is this little turtle that you give orders, similar to imperative programming language used in most softwares.
And the turtle would draw a green line on the screen.
There are plenty of options for software that provides that, here is an option https://apps.kde.org/kturtle/
And, of course, try to break these in multiple days, building a PC, installing OS and playing with programs can be overwhelming for some kids.