Both My Son and Daughter started shooting 22's at the range and BB's at the house at 5yo.My son loves watching the heavy steel targets fall after he hits them from 25, 50, and 100 yards. I know many like to start with a scope but I started with open sights and they had no problems at all understanding them. My son is now 8 he is hunting turkey with a .410. I don't let him shoot animals that he does not understand the end use of. I do not want to intruduce him to killing animals like varmits untill he understands the differance between killing a animal to benfit the envirerment and harvisting animal to provide us with food.