For a 10 years old guy i will first let him play with some free 2d animation sw, like
http://plasticanimationpaper.dk/ then after a year i will show him Maya.
You can start animating in minutes. Here is a video of a young girl using Maya.. it looks like a commercial, but it may be usefull for your friend:
There is a trial version and with a student option you can have the full software for free.
Blender will be an option? let's say.. Linux will be an option, but if you want all easy better to choose windows, macos, capito?