If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly behind the camera trying to capture memories of your child’s big milestones, and even their little everyday moments. And so naturally, since kids love to imitate their parents, my kids love to pretend to take pictures or use my phone camera to take a dozen blurry shots of their feet. My 3.5 year old son started showing interest in “taking pictures” over a year ago, so I gave him my old digital camera (from almost a decade ago!) to take his own real photographs.  He was in love.  It was his favorite toy until it broke and wouldn’t take pictures anymore.  I debated buying him a cheaper grown-up camera but quickly dismissed the idea after seeing the damage done to my old one.  So I spent hours researching the best quality and most durable kid cameras out there.  And here’s the round-up:


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1.  Fisher Price Retro Camera.  Okay, so this isn’t a real camera but it has interchangeable disks that advance by pressing the “shutter.”  It’s more appropriate for young toddlers (1-2 years) and has a retro/vintage look.  I had something just like this when I was growing up.

2.  Vtech Scroll and Learn.  Also for the younger set because it’s not a real camera. It has a LED screen that plays black and white animations with 40 objects and 10 locations to explore.  It has a working flash and lots of engaging buttons and music to make it entertaining for even the littlest photographer.

3.  Fisher Price Kid Tough.  A real digital camera that’s kid-friendly and built to survive drop after drop.  It has a 1.4″ color screen, 4x digital zoom, and can store up to 2000 pictures (256 MB).  It also comes with downloadable software where kids can add special effects to their pictures after uploading their images to a computer.

4.  Fisher Price Kid Tough See Yourself.  Identical features to the previous Fisher Price Kid Tough Camera but with a 180 degree swivel lens so kids can easily take pictures of themselves.  It also has the ability to take videos.  This one is about $12 more expensive, but I think being able to take self-portraits (selfies) makes photography so much more fun for kids!

5.  Vtech Kidizoom.  A real 2.0 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, self-timer, and 5 games.  It has a rotating lens for self-portraits, the ability to take photos with special effects like stamps or borders, and video recording with sound.

6.  Fujifilm Instax Mini.  This isn’t a kid camera but it’s so easy to use I included it for those of you with slightly older kids.  It’s a point-and-shoot camera that develops your pictures instantly (like a Polaroid).  That instant gratification makes it fun for kids, but I definitely wouldn’t get this for a toddler.  I recommend this for older kids (5+ years) that already know how to use a camera and can take semi-decent shots because the cost of film can quickly add up!

If you have a little budding photographer, I think it’s worth the investment to buy them their very own camera. I was torn between the Fisher Price Kid Tough See Yourself Camera (#4) and the Vtech Kidizoom (#5) but ended up purchasing the former because it was the only one in stock at the time. My son loves it so much and I highly recommend it, but I think next time I’m in the market for a kid camera we’ll try the Vtech Kidizoom because it has a built-in flash and a viewfinder.  The Kid Tough See Yourself Camera is great but I frequently find my son putting the camera to his face (like mommy does with her camera) but there’s no viewfinder to look through. But he doesn’t seem bothered by it at all. And I’m happy because I don’t have to worry about him trying to use my DSLR camera or have to go through my phone to delete blurry pictures of random items in my house.

Anyone else’s kid snap happy?