When choosing the Best Drones For Kids, you want to purchase one that your child will enjoy and not one that will become frustrating. Depending on your child, the drone might be too complicated or too simple. It might not be able to create the amazing videos one child would like, or it might not have the mechanical capabilities to be as fast or as maneuverable as another child would like.
So, when you’re picking out a drone, you’ll need to consider a number of factors, some related to your child and some related to the drone. You and your child together also should review federal, state, and local regulations and restrictions on where to fly drones.
Make sure that your child understands the reasons for these restrictions, as that will help your child to understand why the restrictions exist and how important they are. Theses tips for choosing a great kids drone for sale will not only help you to become better informed about drones but also will help you to find the drone that is just right for your kids.
Child-Related Factors to Consider When Searching for the Best Drones for Kids:
Age
Manufacturer’s do put age recommendations on their drones. The youngest age recommendation you’re likely to see is for five-year-olds and up. Many manufacturers recommend drones only for children ages eight to 10 or older. Some recommend drones only for children 14 and older.
More advanced drones, in particular, are usually recommended only for older children.
This YouTube video from YouTube drone expert Ken Heron, which is entitled Kids Fly Drones, Too! features then 10-year-old-soon-to-be-11 Jada who had had her drone for about three months.
They want to take things apart to figure out how they work, even if they have no idea how to put them back together again.
Some children enjoy things that zip around and move fast, while others like trying to maneuver things around obstacles. Ask yourself whether your child likes to race other kids while riding a bike or a Big Wheel, or whether your child likes to slalom around the furniture, trees, and shrubs.
Still other children enjoy drawing things and taking pictures with a cell phone or camera.
When you begin investigating drones, you will find that there are two kinds – racing drones and camera drones.
Racing drones are smaller, lighter weight drones. Some come ready-to-fly (RTF), but many come in a kit and require assembly.
Racing drones may have cameras, but these aren’t designed for creating high-quality videos.
In general, most of the integrated cameras built onto smaller drones produce lower quality images than a separate camera would, but attaching a separate camera adds weight to the drone which makes it more difficult to fly.
With these comment in mind, you might want to let your child learn to fly a racing drone first and encourage him or her to focus on developing piloting skills by competing with a team in slalom-like events. You and your child can also invent your own courses and tests of flying skills
Capacity for Responsible Behavior
Levels of responsibility don’t always correlate with age, and even though an adult may be present, an accidental injury to either a person or a pet can occur suddenly with a drone. Injuries can happen with even the smallest size drone and even when the drone has rotor guards. It’s important that children understand that they should not fly drones near people or moving cars or use them to chase or play with pets or wild animals. It’s also important that children understand that they should not invade anyone’s privacy by, for instance, flying a drone into a position to see through a neighbor’s windows or into a neighbor’s backyard.
Drone-Related Factors to Consider
Durable Design
A durable design is important for anyone purchasing a first drone. Both children and adults are going to crash their drones, probably multiple times, when they first start learning to fly them. Look for drones with thick shells that are made of ABS plastic.
Replacement parts should be available for purchase, and parts, especially the rotors and rotor guards, should be easy to replace. In fact, be prepared, and if a package of commonly needed replacement parts is available, buy it when you buy the drone so that the fun and learning can continue with minimal interruption. {{image of a package of replacement parts}}
Price
When you’re purchasing a first drone, look for an inexpensive model for the same reason that you look for a durable one. Whether it’s a child or an adult, someone learning to fly a drone for the first time is going to crash it. You want a drone with enough of the type of features that will interest your child if the drone survives the learning-to-fly stage, but if it is damaged beyond repair in a crash, you won’t want to have a lot invested in it.
Granted you can buy a quadcopter for under $50. However, these are more in the toy grade category, and simply do not fly well.
The cheaper models have simple, if any sensors, a low-end flight control system, and a basic controller. The response of these cheaper quadcopters is sluggish, along with very poor flight stability.
Controls
Tablet controls use headless mode automatically, which makes them easier to learn. As mentioned, though, it is easier to reverse the drone’s flight joystick. {{image of a tablet control}}
Low flying mode makes it easier to learn how to control the drone by reducing its agility and maneuverability.
Altitude hold causes the drone to maintain a stable altitude as it hovers. Drone photographers and videographers can use altitude hold to cause the drone to remain steady while they operate the camera.
Waypoints enable you to create a flight path for your drone by setting GPS points as guides.
Automatic flight mode keeps the drone’s flight more stable by reducing the angles of pitch and yaw. Manual mode is available to use with a little more flying experience.
If your drone flies out of your line of sight, pushing the return to home (RTH button) signals the drone to use its onboard GPS to return to the point from which it was launched.
Gimbal
A gimbal stabilizes the camera on a camera drone when the drone is flying and on windy days. It’s an important feature that a budding drone photographer or videographer will find invaluable. {{image of a gimbal on a camera drone}}
Number of Rotors
These drones have four rotors. {{image of a quadcopter}} Hexacopters have six rotors and are capable of longer flights. {{image of a hexacopter}}Octacopters have eight rotors and also usually have stabilizers. These drones are capable of flying the longest distance of these classifications. {{image of an octacopter}}
Size
The larger the drone, though, the more difficult it will be to fly and maneuver. Also, larger drones require more storage space, and they are heavier to transport to competitions or to a location where you might want to fly.
If you plan to fly your drone outdoors and it weighs between 0.5 pounds and 55 pounds, you will need to register it with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, if you are flying your drone only for recreational purposes, you can register two or more drones together under the Special Rule for Model Aircraft.
Range
The range of your drone is the distance the signal from the control can travel. The FAA has rules governing how drones can be flown, and one of them is that the drone must remain in view of either the pilot or a spotter.
For this reason and because younger children are more likely to lose control of a drone, BuzzParent.com recommends a range of no more then 100 feet for young children. Older children will want to be able send their drones on longer flights, and they also may need more range if they are working on a STEM learning project with a drone. Still, BuzzParent.com recommends a range of no more than a mile for older children.
Flight Time and Battery Charging Time
Flight times for drones range from 10 to 30 minutes while charging times for lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries range from 30 minutes to two hours. Taking off, flying at high speeds, long flights, and flying in windy weather or extremely hot or cold weather all put an extra drain on batteries.
Larger, heavier drones and drones that are carrying a load, such as drones that are carrying a camera, also use more battery power.
Having extra batteries on hand lets your child keep flying longer.
The Rules and Regulations
As mentioned previously, the FAA does have regulations regarding flying drones. You and your child should be certain that you understand them before flying your drone.
Together, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) founded KnowBeforeYouFly.org. You can visit it to keep up with all federal regulations for drones, or you can download the B4UFly app from the FAA. {{infographic of the basic FAA regulations – stay under 400 feet, stay 25 feet away from people, don’t fly directly above people or cars, stay 5 miles away from airports, etc.}}
You also should check the state and local rules and regulations where you live and anywhere you visit where you might want to fly your drone outdoors.
What are the benefits of learning to fly drones for kids?
Piloting a drone is a wonderful educational experience for a child. First of all, ownership and operation of a drone teaches a young person how to be a drone pilot. Drone pilots are in huge demand in security and law enforcement; in addition, there are many other fields in need of them such as disaster relief, agriculture, Amazon and so on. Caring for their drone will also give your child an introduction to drone maintenance which is yet another career field.
To learn more about the wonderful educational experiences your child can derive from drone ownership, check out this site.
One more advantage of your child owning one of the Best Drones For Kids is that it creates a wonderful activity for you to do with him. He will have fun, you will have fun, and you will be creating wonderful moments together. You will laugh together when the drone spins out of control, and then you will cheer together when it performs a spectacular 360.
If you want to experience the drone without spending too much money, please read article ” best drones under 300 ” to be able to review and choose the right drone for you.