crickett
I started bamaboy with a Crickett at that age. One of the issues is that young arms and muscles cannot balance and support adult rifles.
So...little rifle for little guy.
We shot the REd Ryder for a while, to understand safety and handling.
Consider this, when we moved to .22 and real ammo, I bought a couple of hundred .22 LONG CB caps, made by CCI. The long case was easier for little hands to manage, and the report was so mild we did not need muffs, which lent itself to coaching.
The youngster needs to understand, this is a real gun and ALL that means.