From what I can tell, it would be better for the newbies to mine their own Bitcoin. Just a small amount which is barely enough to try out a couple of transactions. For practice. Not only would they understand where Bitcoin comes from, but they would understand the advantages of Bitcoin over Fiat much more clearly, after having an in-depth introduction with practical decentralization.

Then there are testnets online, with which you can practice trading on an exchange. Deribit testnet being one of my favorites, although I have not used it for years now.