Best drones for kids [2022 guide and products]

Drones are a fantastic present for children. Whether you are buying for your children, brothers and sisters or grandchildren – there’s so much fun and adventure to be had by gifting them a drone. Here we are going to go through everything you need to know about the best drones for kids and the features that you should look out for!

By far the best overall drone for kids is the DJI Ryze Tello. The Tello has so many advanced features that makes it super simple and fun to fly and it inexpensive but feature packed as any drone can be! It has a high-quality image processor, a 5MP camera and HD video recording. If that doesn’t convice you – there is also an Iron Man edition! A powerful toy that will make your kid the envy of their friends!

Lets take a moment to check out all of the different drones that are suitable for the tiniest of children – such as mini drones and hand operated drones! Also, once your child get a little older what other drones would they love to fly! In this massive guide – we are going to cover it all!

In a hurry? The best overall drone for a kid

If you are in a bit of a hurry there and you just need to know the best drone for kids – you can’t go past the DJI tello. It’s such a small but powerful and feature packed drone that you’d be silly not to have a serious look at purchasing this drone or any loved one in your live – let alone kids!

Here are all of the features that you need to think about and why it is at the top of this list!

Now that you have the best option for a wide variety of children. Let’s take a bit more of a look at the reasons that you want to buy a drone for a child and the drones that you can launch with your hand and mini drones for the smallest kids in our families.

Can kids have drones?

If you are a parent the chances re that you have been asked (hopefully politely) to buy a drone for your child. Drones have grown a lot in popularity over the past few years and there are more options than ever before to purchse them! But what do you need to know about children with drones?

Young people love to be up to date with the latest technology and your child may have seen drone footage from their most followed content creators on YouTube, Instagram or other social platform. There’s no doubt that the footage you can get from drones is simply stunning. So who wouldn’t want a part in that?

It’s completely understandable that parents are hesitant about buying a drone for their children as sending something hurtling through the sky can result in a world of pain – not only physically but also a drone an easily damage property. This begs the question – are drones safe for kids to fly?

Are drones safe for children to fly?

There are drones of every type on the market and some are specifically catered for toddlers and very young children. Their rotors are completely enclosed. They are also so light wieght that they will not hurt any one or any thing. It is not advisable however that very young children operate most of what are advertised as “toy drones”.

Most of the advertised “toy drones” are best suited to children ten and upwards as they have the motor skills and presence of mind to operate the drone with some care – although running into things and trying different stunts are part of the fun of learning to fly a drone – even for adults.

If you are flying indoors, the drone pilot doesn’t have to worry about the drone laws and regulations for the country you live in. The moment that you fly them outdoors – that changes. If you are flying your drone outside you have to be familiar with all of the civil aviation rules that govern flying a drone.

If your child is under the age of 10 you will have to be much more selective about what sort of drone you buy for them. Below we will look at all of the options for kids of all ages!

Best drones for kids

Let’s take a look at all of the best drones for kids and their features that made them make this list!

Mini drones for kids

Mini drones allow you to introduce your child to the world of drone without having to worry about the expense and potential for damage. Mini drones re best used indoors and here are my top picks:

These two drones are the best mini drones on the market at the moment – but do still have a controller. So, let’s take a look at the best hand operated drones for kids – so that even the smallest little members of your family can join in the fun!

Best hand-operated drone for kids

Hand operated drones are perfect for children who can’t yet work a remove control and want to be more tactile with a drone. The features of this sort of drone include:

• Fully enclosed propellers
• Sensors for collision free flight
• Hand controlled

Each of these features allows the drone to be operated safely by young children and here is the best in the market at the moment:

What is the best drone for a 12+ year old?

As children grow up and they become more capable of controlling and using technology we should give them drones that better match the sorts of things that they want to do with them. The DJI Tello is a fantastic mini you drone that is suitable for teenagers and other older children in your family.

Why buy a drone for child?

You may be wondering if there is more to flying a drone that just sending it up in the air and waiting for it to charge. Drones are not just about the flying. There are plenty of other skills that your child can get from owning and operating a drone. From education to problem solving skills a drone could open up a whole new world for your kid!

Drones are educational

From the moment that the drone is out of the packaging and even before it’s first flight. Drones can teach children a lot about flight, electronics and programming. Let’s look at the different education areas that can be enhanced with drones.

Drones for science

One of the front runners of drone technology for education is the Robolink CoDrone lite. This business’s mission was to encourage students to learn about science, technology, engineering, and math in an engaging way. While there is a natural fit from drone technology in the science and technology educational space. There are also many other creative ways that you can use drones in education:

Drones for writing exercises

One of the reasons that people are attracted to drones is the unique perspective that it can give you on the world. I loved my first time sending the drone up to it’s maximum altitude and just looking around. Combining a trip into nature with some drone footage and a story writing task is a brilliant combination of diciplines and healthy activites. You can also take the drone and photograph some familiar places in some unfamiliar ways and play a guessing game as to where the pictures where taken!

Drones for PE (Physical Education)

Drones can be a great way to get students active too! A fun drone activity is to use a drone to race or find children in a game of hide-and-seek. There are plenty of ways that drone footage can be used in sport and education that you are only really limited by your imagination – once you have a drone of course!

Drones for programming

You can learn the basics of programming by using Scratch – an MIT developed coding system especially suited for students. Fly your own flight patterns and get the drone to do certain tricks when you tell it to! There’s something a little special about using drones to get to grips with the basics of computer programming!

Besides education there is a whole world of drone technology waiting to be explored – it is a growing industry and that makes it particularly important for children to have an understanding of it!

Get them interested in a future industry

It’s kind of scary but we don’t know what the future jobs are that our children will be doing? One thing is for sure, however, it certainly won’t be the same sorts of jobs that we have at the moment. Drones and programming are growing industries with no sign of slowing down for the next few years!

Giving them an appreciation for the opportunities that may lie with advanced technology could be the thing to spark an interest that could turn into a future career or hobby.

Get them outdoors

The great thing about drone flying is that it combines two things. One the children love and the other the adults love – tech and the outdoors. Sure, flying a drone inside is fun but you have to be creative to keep it fun all of the time. If you head outside however there are some awesome shots and stunts to be had.

Some fun outside drone activities include:

• Hide and seek – get the child to hide from the drone and see how long it take for you to find them.
• Racing – set up a simple racing track. Like around the tree and back. Then run time trilas to see who can do it the fastest. For extra fun add in an onsticle course too – like through a hoop! Just make sure you have plenty of batteries at hand for continuous racing!
• Photography of something interesting – take photos in a way that has never been done before. A roof or tree becomes quite awesome to look at.

With all of the outside activities make sure you abide by all of the appropriate rules and regulations set out by your country’s flight and aviation association.

Give them some problem solving skills

There’s only one skill that really helps nearly everything and that is problem solving. Problem solving skills and self directed learning are the things that can set a person out from the rest. Having a drone means your child will have to overcome a load of different problems. From learning how to charge the drone, fly it and land safely – evert interation is a learning experience and opportunity to solve some drone problems.

Drones are fun!

There’s something really fun about drones and seeing something you are controlling disappearing into the distance! Every time I fly my drone I have adults and children alike come and ask me some questions about the drone. How it flies and what it is like to operate it.

Seeing a little collection of electronics take flight is so fun that it brings out the child in all of us! So don’t underestimate just how important the fun aspect of drone flying can be for children!

They are as inexpensive as ever!

Consumer level drone price is as low as ever! In the past the price meant that only a few people could afford the experience. Now, with prices as low as $23, drone technology is accessible to everyone!

Even the incredibly low price SNAPTAIN A15H comes with an HD camera and advanced flying capabilities (like flight planning) that was reserved for much more expensive drones in the past. Pretty incredible.

They are very easy to fly

The last reason that drones are incredible for children is that they are so easy to fly. The mid range drones come with advanced sensors and obstacle avoidance so you can be comforatable that you are much less likely to collibe with anything and damage the drone.

Many of the drones for children have a very easy to use interface that will be intuitive to a digitally native generation. And there are other drones that are voice activated and can be maneuvered through space by using hands. A pretty incredible array of tech that will keep your drone, property and children as safe as they can be!

Let’s take a moment now to check out the best features of drones for kids and the aspects that you should look for in a drone for little ones!

Buyer guide drone for kids

Here are the things and features that you should pay special attention to when choosing a drone for your kid.

Size

Size of a drone is important as it relates to a number of different things:

• How wind resistant it is -larger drones have more powerful motors that can stabilize the drone in winds. Smaller drones are also much more affected by the wind and so are better used indoors.
• How much battery live it has – there is a playoff between the size and weight of a drone and how long it can stay in the air. The smaller toy drones do not need as much battery power (and can’t lift the heavy batteries) and have a much smaller flight time because of it.
• How easy it is to transport and store – dronesa re great when you can get them to where you want to fly them. choose a drone that can be easily chucked in a bag and taken for a play date with the accessories that it needs.
• How much potential damage it could cause – smaller toy drones do not cause as much damage when they collide with things. Also the propellers are not as powerful and do not cause as much turbulance durng the flight.
• Easier to hold for little hands – there are a number of toy drones that are palm launched so choosing one especially made for little hands will make it easier to launch and control.

If in doubt look for the smallest drone possible and upgrade if needs be!

Ease of control

When looking for a drone for a child you have to consider the ways in which the child will interact with the drone. A large part of the piloting experience comes down to how the drone is controlled. There are three ways that a drone for a kid can be controlled each has its benefits and downsides.

• Controller – having a controller makes you feel like a real drone pilot. There’s something about having physical buttons and joysticks to play with that is just fun! You need to make sure that the controller is small enough to fit in the hands of the children you want to operate it and that it won’t be too confusing!
• Hand – hand-operated drones rely on sensors that are positioned around the drone. These are great for children.
• App – having a drone controlled by an app is becoming more and more popular. Make sure that the app works well on your smartphone and that you are comfortable with the child having access to a phone to fly the drone regularly.

Make sure you choose an interface that matches the user of the drone!

Speed levels

Quite often drone come with a number of speed modes. Typically this is three modes for slow, medium and fast. Having different speed modes means that the drone will remain a challenge for the child as you can up the speed as they get more comfortable flying it.

Also, it allows the smallest of children to fly confidently. Place it in the slowest mode and there will be more time to dodge obstacles! This is also a good time to mention headless mode:

What is headless mode?

Headless mode means that you never have to worry about the direction that a drone is facing – it will always move the way that the joysticks are pushed.

In conventional drone piloting when the head of the drone is pointing towards you – the movements of the joysticks are reversed. This is because the movement of the drone is always relative to the direction that it is pointing. This can be confusing for first time pilots and children. Headless mode gets rid of that confusion so you can just enjoy the piloting experience!

Prop guards

Propeller guards are very important when flying indoors. They protect the propellers as they can be very brittle and they also protect your things! The guards also mean that you can bump into a wall or object and the drone will stay flying. Without them, the drone will quickly fall to the ground as the propellers come into contact with something or someone.

Durability

You need all toys and drones that come into contact with children to be long lasting and rugged enough to put up with the play of a child. Plastic is the best option for toy drones. It has enough give in it to resist snapping and light enough so that the drone remains in the air for a longer period of time.

Battery life

Pay close attention to the battery life of the drone that you are buying. The smaller the drone the smaller the flight time. Batteries are the heaviest and most expensive component of most drones. You a toy drone you’ll get up to 15 minutes’ worth of flight time.

It’s better to buy multiple batteries for the drones that you intend on giving to children so you can have one charging as they are playing with the drone. We don’t want them to get bored while the drone battery is charging!

Transport and storage

Lastly, children love taking their drone to other people’s houses and so you want to make sure that the drone you are buying is able to be transported easily and safely including any charging cables and adapters. Consider buying a travel case that will keep all of the important drone components together and also protect the drone as it is being transported.