We love these fitness trackers for kids (and they will too)

Kids have the kind of energy adults could only dream of having, and they spend their days being active just for the fun of it. You might not think that a kid needs to track and monitor their health and activity, but we still live in a relatively sedentary society, so inspiring motivation to move around is still important to instill at a young age.

Fortunately, there are several fitness trackers for kids that are made specifically with children in mind. This means that they’re not focused on weight loss, but on forming good habits and leading an active lifestyle instead.

If a new fitness tracker for your kid is on your list of intended Prime Day purchases, then read up on what you should know before making a purchase and which models come out on top.

What makes a fitness tracker kid-friendly?

Fitness trackers for kids are simplified versions of those for adults in that they trade out features for motivational games and rewards systems. After all, your kid doesn’t really need an expensive Apple Watch to count their steps and monitor their heart rate when a cheaper (and more durable) option with simpler functionality is more suited to keep them engaged. A kids’ activity tracker is also specially designed to properly fit a child’s wrist.

The best fitness trackers for kids have more kid-friendly designs, with some featuring themes from Star Wars, Frozen, and other Disney favorites. Plus, they often have additional features that make them just as useful for keeping your child on task with homework, chores, and bedtime as they are for monitoring health data. 

What are the benefits of kids using activity trackers?

The terms “activity tracker” and “fitness tracker” are interchangeable when it comes to these kid-friendly devices. But, no matter what you call it, the fact remains that using one at a young age can teach children to be conscious of health early on and can help promote an active lifestyle for years to come. Your kids are far more likely to get excited about moving around or completing chores when doing so unlocks rewards and mini-games.

Within these trackers, you and your kid can set activity goals — fitness or otherwise. Activity trackers teach kids to be physically active, yes, but they also teach responsibility. Many offer parents the opportunity to set daily reminders for their kids to do things like brushing their teeth, completing their homework, reading before bed, or tidying their room. Mundane tasks become a lot more fun when they’re integrated into a model of unlocked games, rewards, and maybe even a little friendly leaderboard competition among siblings, so it’s clear to see why these built-in incentives are a great motivator. Plus, you won’t have to hound your kid to do their chores or go to bed on time when the cool gadget around their wrist bears that burden for you.

Plus, aside from it keeping them motivated to stay active, a fitness tracker can also act as a great “baby step” on your kid’s path to bigger and better tech devices (and the responsibility that comes along with owning them). You’d be hard-pressed to find a kid these days who isn’t begging for a smartphone or tablet of their own by the age of 10, so a kids activity tracker offers a stepping stone to help them feel a bit more independent. It’s also a little bit of flex that they’ll be excited to show off to their friends without simultaneously burning a hole in your pocket. At the same time, you can rest assured that your kid’s activity tracker will keep them a little more connected, but without all the distractions of social media apps and other content that’s not quite appropriate for their age.

Why can’t kids just use an adult fitness tracker?

There are a few key reasons why you wouldn’t want your child to use a , even if it is a cheaper, less connected model. First, in terms of practicality, an adult fitness tracker will likely be too big to fit your child’s wrist, and may have clasps that will make it far more difficult to put on and take off. Ultimately, this will render it pretty useless if it doesn’t fall off of your kid’s wrist and become lost forever first. 

Besides the inconvenience and incompatibility of trying to fit an adult tracker on a child, there are the far more important health-related concerns of giving a child a fitness tracker meant for adults. Nearly every respectable adult activity tracker on the market tracks calories burned, and this is a metric that kids should absolutely not be focusing on. In terms of activity and health, the goal of a kids’ fitness tracker should simply be to move around more, not lose weight or be concerned with how many calories they’ve burned. Ultimately, you want to make physical activity fun for kids so they can make positive behavioral changes and build upon healthy habits throughout their life, not kickstart an unhealthy obsession.

What features should be included in a fitness tracker for kids?

The basic functions of a fitness tracker are likely to remain the same across the board. These include step counting, active minutes, distance traveled, and possibly even a heart rate monitor. But there are a few other features that you’ll likely want the fitness tracker to have, and they can vary from device to device.

First and foremost, a kids activity tracker should be waterproof in some way, shape, or form. Regardless of whether they’re likely to go swimming with it, you still want it to be protected from everyday spills, splashes, weather events, and of course, sweat. A tracker that says it’s “water-resistant” should do just fine in those scenarios. If your child does intend to wear their tracker in the water, however, you should be careful to ensure that it is actually a waterproof tracker (usually up to a depth of 50 meters underwater) and not just water-resistant.

Sleep tracking is another great feature for a kids activity tracker to have. Not only is it key for children to enjoy being more active, a wearable should also present a good opportunity for kids to learn the importance of healthy sleep habits. The activity tracker will likely give you details such as how many hours your child sleeps and whether or not they wake during the night. It’s a feature that’s nice to have, but just keep in mind that your kid might not want to wear their tracker to bed, so the function may go unused. 

And last but not least, you’ll want to consider the battery life of a kids fitness tracker. Some are rechargeable so you’ll need to remember to give ’em some juice every four to seven days, on average. Other fitness trackers are non-rechargeable, operating off of a coin cell battery for up to a year. Often this very inexpensive battery can easily be replaced when it runs out. That said, you’ll want to weigh the benefits and possible inconveniences of having to charge the fitness tracker on a regular basis and decide which option is the best fit for you and your child.

Are fitness trackers safe for kids?

The companies behind the leading kids fitness trackers — Garmin and Fitbit — have both stated that their activity trackers put parents in control of approving any friend requests for fitness-based challenges. Parents can access these things via the corresponding app when the tracker is paired with their smartphone. The location of the wearer is also never shared.

What if my kid doesn’t have a smartphone?

Speaking of smartphones, your child doesn’t need one to use their activity tracker as long as you have one. Fitness trackers for kids let you set up a family account within the app, so you can ultimately have control over settings and permissions. Most of these apps have parent views and kid views, so your child can still feel like they’re in charge of their own health and activity.

A smartphone isn’t necessary to access all the features of an activity tracker as most of the functionality is built right into the device. Phones are just needed for syncing, playing in-app games, and accessing bonus features or any extra content. But the main functions and stats like step tracking, alarms, and other quick-access features are all accessible from your child’s wrist.

What’s the difference between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch?

Over the course of the last decade or so, fitness wearable giants, such as Fitbit, have seemingly agreed upon a certain aesthetic when it comes to designing fitness trackers. They’re often composed of a long, narrow display that blends seamlessly into a thin band around the wrist, kind of like a bracelet with high-tech sensors. These devices can track activity and connect to smartphones while attached to one’s wrist, but they’re not necessarily considered smartwatches. To gain the classification of smartwatch, however, an on-wrist tracker needs to have far more functionality, with built-in apps and connectivity to GPS and sometimes cellular data, too. 

When this translates to the world of kids’ activity trackers, most are styled just like a traditional adult fitness tracker, i.e. a simple, skinny band with a small screen. However, some brands have begun to develop kid-focused trackers with a look more akin to a smartwatch, but without all the added connectivity and unnecessary options that might overwhelm a kid. Simply put, this style of kids activity tracker is a smartwatch in name and design only, and not so much in functionality. It is nice, however, to offer kids a little more variety in how they want their cool new accessory to look. Plus, GPS tracking can also offer parents some peace of mind in case of emergency, just as long as that information is only available to you on the app and not shared publicly.

With that in mind, here are our top picks for the best fitness trackers for kids.