Queens Gambit, Colle System, Queens Gambit Declined, Caro-Kann, Philidor Defence etc.
Recommended Openings for Beginners or Kids?
It depends on the natural instincts of a player. For instance, you will find many who do not shy away from learning opening traps, enjoying gambits and many who just want to get out of the opening and play a game. For the former, there's many many interesting options... with the open games (1.e4 e5) being clear favorites. For the latter, many recommend quieter things such as the the QGD, the Colle, the London (for those d4 inclined), the Vienna, the Scotch (for those e4 inclined).
As an adult beginner, and based on my preferences, I don't like any of the usual recommendations. I don't like open games, i don't like the Caro Kann, I don't like the French, I don't like the Sicilians, I don't like the QGD, I don't like the Phillidor... Want to know why? It's very simple, none of those feel natural to me. And by natural I mean, that I can play a move and be relatively certain that my opponent is unlikely to come up with a gambit or a series of convoluted moves designed to make me lose unless I play perfectly. Also, Isince I don't have the "time" or the knoweledge to study theory, I need to rely on my underdeveloped chess intuition.
So, if I were asked, for beginner players like me, who shy away from tactical play and just want a position that's tenable and were moves flow naturally without finding yourself losing material, I'd recommend stuff like the Slav, the Modern, the Nimzo-Indian or the Queen's indian as black and the Torre, the Colle. the nimzo-larsen, the Scotch and the Closed Sicilian with white. You will rarely find some of those openings being recommended for beginners, but I couldn't care less. That's my advice for beginner players (of every age) who are like me. If you aren't like me (playing "style" wise),you can go with all the recommendations most of the beginner books go for...

Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond
An easy opening for beginners to learn is the Italian Game. It is often recommended for beginners because the moves are Logical and easy to understand, it encourages early kingside development and castling, it introduces important themes such as f7/f2 weakness, it is consistent with opening principles in that it encourages early piece development (some kids and beginners may be confused if an opening is not consistent with the idea of occupying and controlling the centre, developing pieces first, etc.). It leads to open games that develop tactical ability. I think Italian is a good place for a beginner to start.
As I imagined, three people went down the well trodden path and suggested the Italian. Once again, if you are in a position to give advice or to receive it openly, please take into account the natural instincts of the player. If the player isn't tactically strong, the Italian will be overwhelming and can become irritating to play.

Agree. When i started, i found the hole idea of the italian quite irritating and actually boring. If you're not willing to dive deep behind the key ideas, i would recommend the whole standard e4/e5 stuff first when you hit 2000.
Bare in mind that the OP is looking for advice for beginners. This means most of their opponents will be beginners with similar abilities
I'm the OP, and I can say that I find absolutely nothing confusing or overwhelming about the Italian. This is what I learned when I was a kid many many years ago although I thought it was called Giuoco Piano or something like that. But then I'm sure that my level of play is much lower than yours and I probably don't know what I don't know.
And this is what I taught my daughter and I see most of the kids she plays against play this or a variation as well. And I've never seen a beginner taught anything other than an e4 opening. But that being said, it is definitely time to expand what we both know. She started learning Queens Gambit and really enjoyed it so...
Giuoco Piano is a line in the italian but the two names are often interchange. I think, strictly speaking, the Italian is the first 3 moves e4, Nf3 and Bc4. Other well known lines are Giuoco Pianissimo, Evan's Gambit, and of course the notorious fried liver attack. But e4, Nf3, Bc4, castles then play opening principles is a good start for a beginner.
I'm the OP, and I can say that I find absolutely nothing confusing or overwhelming about the Italian. This is what I learned when I was a kid many many years ago although I thought it was called Giuoco Piano or something like that. But then I'm sure that my level of play is much lower than yours and I probably don't know what I don't know.
And this is what I taught my daughter and I see most of the kids she plays against play this or a variation as well. And I've never seen a beginner taught anything other than an e4 opening. But that being said, it is definitely time to expand what we both know. She started learning Queens Gambit and really enjoyed it so...
Great that you don't find the Italian overwhelming or confusing. If your daughter has been doing OK with it, by all means continue. Same with the QGD. Great that the enjoys it. I wish you both great success and fun learning!
It isn't surprising to me that you were exposed to the Italian as a kid, typically 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Mark said it right, the Giuoco Piano is a variation in which your opponent replies 3.Bc5. But without Bc4 you can't get anything in the realm of Italians.
Either way, you're right in saying beginners are typically "taught e4 openings" for the most part. I often think that is one size fits all solution that's very damaging to many beginner players. If you are a kid and you don't see tactics that well, you're likely to lose in the opening phase with open games such as the Italian. If/when you lose a lot this way, there's basically two different roads: shrug off the losses and try really hard to outsmart your opponent or become disinterested in the game because you are always one move away from a trap or trick. A third road many coaches for kids (and even adult beginners) don't take is to see that their student is tactically weak and suggest and "teach" openings where the chances for tricks and traps are drastically lowered. Some may think it's a cop out, a way to avoid working on your deficiencies. I contend it's a way to show that there is more to chess than tactical play.
So... in short for those who may stumble upon a thread like this in the future. Please take into account the natural inclinations of beginners when trying to see what openings would suit them. Don't just go blindly with well meaning advice: "oh, let's open with e4 because that way to get to develop your queen and bishop" forgetting your e pawn is undefended or "let's play Nf3 on move 2 to attack the e5 pawn" forgetting that your opponent may want to play a Petrov and your "nice natural developing" moves become moot.
Begginers don't need to learn openings. They need to practice solving tatics.
I will craft a response to this, because I hear/read it a lot and because the OP (who may not be interested in this thread anymore) specifically asked for opening advice...
Learning openings takes a long time. Most beginners aren't "taught" openings per se, but that's beside the point. They are shown variations and told moves that are typical in beginner/intermediate games and that generally suffices. Now... tactics are important, but to disregard the "teaching" of openings at the beginner stages. I don't mean to sound repetitive, but many openings contain well known traps and you can study tactical motifs for them. If you're up for that, there's enough tactical studies to be done for openings of you (or your coach's) choice and early middlegames derived from said openings. No need to emphasize tactics as something completely disconnected from openings. Tactical training has its place, which is undeniable. Many beginners benefit immensely from intense puzzle solving and drilling exercises, and... many don't. Focused training coming from the type of positions you typically encounter by playing the openings you play yields far better results for those who don't thrive on solving "tactics". In fact, I dare to say many beginners tend to benefit from tactical training only after they are taught the basics of an opening.
Furthermore, if we go for stuff that's "more important" than openings (which beginners don't "need" to learn), then I'd push tactical training to the side. I'd go for even more basic stuff, like coordinates practice, visualization (saying the coordinates for all moves) and even memorization of short instructive games in your opening).
Hi @wornaki. I know we've discussed this on other threads but I think you misunderstand tactics training (aka solving tactical puzzles). When done properly (and there are a couple of ways to approach it ) there are many benefits, it very much helps players strengthen their skills of calculation and visualisation, it develops intuition, it develops tactical knowledge, it develops board vision.
What do you consider essential openings that are easy enough for beginners or kids to learn?