Beginner looking to make my first options trade — how would you approach this?

I’m new to options and only understand the basic idea of calls and puts, but I’ve never actually traded them.
My portfolio is around $1,529:
VOO — 1.61 shares
BRK.B — 0.153 shares
MSFT — 0.234 shares
AMZN — 0.311 shares
NVDA — 0.567 shares
\~$0.64 buying power

Most of my investing so far has been long-term and fairly conservative, and I’m not trying to take big risks or gamble my account away. I’d just like to start learning how options work in practice with very small trades.

So for someone starting from basically zero:

What should I learn first before making a trade?

Calls or puts first?

How much of a $1,500 account would you risk on a first trade?

What expiration length is best for beginners?

Is buying cheap OTM options basically just gambling?

Is it better to learn on SPY/QQQ instead of individual stocks?

Any beginner-friendly strategies before just buying calls/puts?

What do you personally look at before entering a trade?

What mistakes should I avoid early on?

I’m here to learn, not pretend I know what I’m doing. Any advice, resources, or guidance from people with experience would be appreciated.