Best Fitness Tracker for Kids – Using a fitness tracker – or activity tracker – to record just how active we are each day has become a routine part of everyday life for many of us. It’s a great way to ensure we’re reaching the NHS’ recommended target of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week, making it easy to keep a record of everything we do, from a brisk walk or an impromptu dance session to mowing the lawn (all of which count as exercise).
If you’re already using a fitness tracker yourself, then you may be considering getting your child one too. Young people aged five to 18 years should get a minimum of one hour of exercise every day, and a fitness tracker will make it easier to check they’re hitting this target.
ROUND UP
Alternatively, your children or grandchildren may be badgering you to get them a fitness tracker, so they can be just like you.
back to menu ↑1.Fitbit Ace
Features
- Kids spend less time charging and more time moving with up to 8 days of battery (varies with use and other factors)
- Animated clock faces grow and develop as kids move more throughout the day
OUR TAKE
Fitbit Ace 2’s design was arguably the sleekest of all the children’s trackers we have tested, but the Fitbit Ace 3 has got a curvier, fresh new look. It’s still slim, with a silicone strap, but has a bubblier aesthetic and comes in two colour options: blue and green, and black and red. While the watch is intended for kids age 6+, the strap’s design means it can be worn by much smaller kids and adults alike.
The watch itself feels slightly chunkier than its predecessor and still has a greyscale screen, making it less enticing perhaps than offerings with colourful screens, such as the Garmin Vivofit Jr 2 and Vodafone’s Neo.
back to menu ↑2.Garmin vivofit
Features
- Includes interactive app experience that lets kids go on a garmin world tour; kiddos can uncover and tour exciting new places (requires garmin jr. app loaded on parent’s compatible smartphone paired to vívofit jr. 3)
- Durable, swim-friendly fitness tracker features a large color display with multiple watch face options and up to 1 year of battery life — no recharging needed, and the battery is parent replaceable
OUR TAKE
Looking for a fitness band that will track your basic activity? Garmin thinks the Vivofit 4 will be the perfect product for your wrist, but there’s tough competition in this space from the likes of the Moov Now, Fitbit Alta HR and countless other brands that want to guide you to improved fitness.
Despite the Vivofit 4 having a color screen, Garmin claims its battery – it’s a regular watch battery which you replace, so you never have to worry about recharging – will last you a whole year.
back to menu ↑3.Lintelek Fitness
Features
- Heart Rate & Sleep Monitor: Lintelek fitness tracker monitors your heart rate all day. It tracks your sleep (awake sleep, deep sleep, awake time)at night.
- All-day Activity Tracker: The fitness tracker can track your daily steps, calorie consumed, workout distance and time. You can see detailed data on Veryfitpro APP.
OUR TAKE
Earning one of the worst scores overall, it’s easy to see why the Lintelek ID115HR failed to earn an award. This very bare-bones model doesn’t have a very impressive set of features when it comes to tracking overall health and fitness stats, scoring average at best in those evaluation metrics.
It’s not the most ergonomic or stylish and has an overall lackluster display that can be hard to read outdoors. However, its simplistic nature does make it fairly intuitive and easy to use, as there aren’t a whole lot of menus and settings to get lost in.
back to menu ↑4.Letsfit Smart
Features
- Daily Activity Tracking: Track your fitness progress via 3 sports modes including running, walking and cycling. View your fitness data such as your heart rate, calories burned, distance travelled, and more all on your smart watch or via our app.
- Sleep Tracking: You can view your deep sleep, light sleep, and awake sleep all via our very own Letsfit app that helps you study your sleeping patterns to help you understand how much rest you are taking.
OUR TAKE
The Letsfit Smartwatch ID105L probably seems like it has a lot of caveats, and…it does. It’s definitely not a device that can compete with high-end smartwatches or even high-end fitness trackers. But it’s also very inexpensive, so what did you expect? It all boils down to what you’re looking for in a smartwatch. The ID205L is impressive in some areas:
It’s light, slim, and comfortable; it has a bright easy-to-use display and an intuitive interface; and it offers quick notification and alerts from a variety of third-party apps. It’s not the most accurate tracker but it’s not terrible, especially if you use it in conjunction with another device—such as your phone, which you’ll need anyway for GPS connectivity. The Letsfit ID205L is nowhere near the best smartwatch, but it’s not bad—especially for the price.
back to menu ↑5.Nuband Unisex
Features
- 14mm Case Diameter
- Multi-sport activity fitness and sleep tracker
OUR TAKE
Initial thoughts are that it is well presented and didn’t feel cheap or plasticity at all. Like many higher end smart fitness trackers it has a soft rubber texture for the main band and the plastic tracking unit attached at the top.
The setup is very simple and neat, two small metal plugs fit neatly into the holes provided on the strap. It makes a nice change to a more traditional watch that has a catch design that on occasion can get caught on your clothing.
back to menu ↑Best Fitness Tracker for Kids – BUYER’S GUIDE
Fitness trackers for kids are simplified versions of those for adults in that they trade out smartwatch 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.
back to menu ↑Frequently Asked Questions
back to menu ↑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.
back to menu ↑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 fitness tracker for adults, 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.
back to menu ↑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.
back to menu ↑WRAP UP
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.
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