Off the top of my head, Kelvin and the Infamous Machine was a positive surprise with nice voice acting and some funny jokes. Got it from a bundle at some point. Thimbleweed park was very good as well, but I don't know if a small kid would agree. The Journey Down series is fun and different. And I haven't played this one but Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet is bound to be hilarious judging by the old, free first part. Sadly the original is windows only, but should work just fine in Wine.

Then there's the oldies like Broken Sword 1 and 2, not pure comedy but they have their moments. Flight of the Amazon Queen is worth playing, and was released for free (on GOG.com and elsewhere) and has a ScummVM-based release for Linux. Sam & Max Hit the Road is on GOG.com as well, if you don't mind the borderline psychopathic main characters. You played Deponia so I guess you don't.

I'm probably missing something obvious, but these should get you started. Just ask if you need help locating them in stores.

The Neverhood. ScummVM runs it. It's hard to come by, but no store is selling it digitally, so you can get it form various sources without EA getting upset :) If you really want to buy it, get a CD on Ebay.

Loom of course.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

Gobliiins series.

I can vouch for The Fowl Fleet, very tame and I imagine a young girl would enjoy the protagonist.

The Little Acre would definitely be an easy choice for me for your target audience. Brief but blurring the line between game and animation, with enough time to get attached to the characters even though you feel they could have made it a bigger game. This one also has a young girl as one of the playable characters, so bonus points for that if you like relatable protagonists.

It's a shame that some of my favorites aren't on Linux. I imagine you can get Monkey Island running on ScummVM though? The third game was my first P&C and remains my gold standard to this day as far as comedy ones are concerned.

I would suggest

The Journey Down

Edna & Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes

The Book of Unwritten Tales (1, 2, The Critter Chronicles)

The Whispered World Special Edition

This genre used to be my specialty, let's see if I can help at all:

Broken Age
Anna's Quest
AR-K
Toonstruck
Tony tough and the night of Roasted Moths

On the free side of things, you could also have a look to Drascula. In that same link you could also have a look to The Feeble Files although in GOG isn't available for Linux nor free.

Last, but not least, and though there isn't a Linux version, one of my fav games when I was a kid was Hollywood Monsters. Although I suspect might be difficult to get now.

Cheers!

Thanks for these! A few good suggestions that we'll have a bash at :o)

We've tried a few SCUMM games, including Indiana Jones.

I also got Edna & Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes in the Christmas sale, but wasn't sure if we needed to play the Windows-only first game to 'get' it?

Quoting: JSVRamirezI also got Edna & Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes in the Christmas sale, but wasn't sure if we needed to play the Windows-only first game to 'get' it?

no you do not need to. They are different games. Not like the Journey Down where it is one game in three chapters that need to be played in the right order.

The same apply to The Book of Unritten Tales. There is no need to be played in the right order. You can play the second game first.