Trying to activate CS5 Design Standard on macintosh

CS5 is ancient, unsupported software.  Even if purchased back in the day directly from Adobe, there's no guarantee that this will work.  Disks often deteriorate after a few years whether or not they are used.

And then there's the other elephant in the room.  How much benefit can your children derive from learning to use outdated software?  Nobody uses CS5 anymore.  Where will they find relevant tutorials for it?

If your children do not yet qualify for a Creative Cloud student discount plan, let them start learning with free or low-cost modern equivalents until they're older. 

VECTOR:

https://www.creativebloq.com/features/illustrator-alternatives

RASTER:

https://www.creativebloq.com/photoshop/alternatives-1131641

here's info from another user regarding cs6, but cs5 should work the same way:

1. Disconnect your Mac completely from the internet

2. At the first start of CS6 with any app you will be asked if you want to try it for 30 days or register

3. If you have bought CS6 and have a serial number choose to register

[perhaps after that there was another window with an error message taht you have no internet acces - continue without internet)

4. This will take you to a window where you have to fill in your serial number

5. If you click "continue" you'll be informed that there is still no internet connection and asked if you want to activate offline

6. Thefollowing window has the option "I can't connect to the internet" [or similar] - click on that and re-connect with the internet afterwards

7. Next you need a request code [German: Anforderungscode - not sure what that is translated to English] to be generated. Get this code generated. and that leads you to a window where you will have to fill in the answering code later (point 10 here)

8. You will be taken to an offline activation website of Adobe where you fill in this "request code" [Anforderungscode] and also the CS6 serial number.

9. After you have done, you click on "generate answering code" [German: Antwortcode generieren]

10. Fill in the "answering code" and click continue

11. In my case this worked and I was told that CS6 now successfully got activated and is ready to use unlimited