Setting up the toolchain that's not Arduino IDE is a prohibitively high bar for a school child that wants to blink leds.
There is a version of Thonny[1] designed for use with the Pico that is great for education. Raspberry Pi have some good resources on getting started[2].
If your target audience is school kids, you really can't go past the micro:bit and Makecode[3].
1. https://thonny.org
2. https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/getting-started...
3. https://makecode.microbit.org
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There is a version of Thonny[1] designed for use with the Pico that is great for education. Raspberry Pi have some good resources on getting started[2].
If your target audience is school kids, you really can't go past the micro:bit and Makecode[3].
1. https://thonny.org
2. https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/getting-started...
3. https://makecode.microbit.org