A camera for a 4 year old

[sonrisa]

My dd loves to take pictures, and her birthday is fast approaching. Has anyone purchased a camera for a this age group. Any insights on brands or ideas??

[Cujobunny]

My ds (5.5yo) has the Vtech Kidizoom. My ILs bought it for him when he was 2.5, I think. He still plays with it a lot, he loves to take pictures, it also takes video and has some games on it. He likes Tic Tac Toe and there's a game that jumbles up the photos on the camera and you unscramble them to put the pic back together. It's fun. It`s been very durable, dropped on the floor more times than I can tell you. I babysit a 4 yr old and it`s his favourite thing to play with here.

[Marsupialmom]

Years ago I bought a camera designed for kids. It was a waste of money.

I found it more effective to sit my child down and show them HOW expensive cameras are. I also showed them how to use and hold them. Close supervision than slowly moving to more independence and responsibility. You can go to new egg and get a basic digital Kodak camera for $60. The quality will be better than cameras design for kids. This will make you and your child happy. My child's disappointment in crappy low pixel photo from a "kids" camera.

[meemee]

Originally Posted by Marsupialmom

Years ago I bought a camera designed for kids. It was a waste of money.

I found it more effective to sit my child down and show them HOW expensive cameras are. I also showed them how to use and hold them. Close supervision than slowly moving to more independence and responsibility. You can go to new egg and get a basic digital Kodak camera for $60. The quality will be better than cameras design for kids. This will make you and your child happy. My child's disappointment in crappy low pixel photo from a "kids" camera.

ditto this. my dd's been taking pictures since she was 2. i just let her use mine. i taught her how to be careful and she and her friends all borrowed my camera all the time. it was dropped a few times, but i knew it was a pretty hardy model.

so one for kids is a waste of money.

[carmel23]

Originally Posted by Cujobunny

My ds (5.5yo) has the Vtech Kidizoom. My ILs bought it for him when he was 2.5, I think. He still plays with it a lot, he loves to take pictures, it also takes video and has some games on it. He likes Tic Tac Toe and there's a game that jumbles up the photos on the camera and you unscramble them to put the pic back together. It's fun. It`s been very durable, dropped on the floor more times than I can tell you. I babysit a 4 yr old and it`s his favourite thing to play with here.

we have this camera, it is well designed and takes decent pictures. It is a "real" digital camera, you can have prints 4 X6 of pro quality (it is a 2.0 mega pixel camera).

It is a kid's camera, not because of quality, but because it is designed with a child's hands and eyes in mind.

[GuildJenn]

Originally Posted by carmel23

we have this camera, it is well designed and takes decent pictures. It is a "real" digital camera, you can have prints 4 X6 of pro quality (it is a 2.0 mega pixel camera).

It is a kid's camera, not because of quality, but because it is designed with a child's hands and eyes in mind.

We have it too and I agree. The real digital camera is better for photo quality but my son has really enjoyed being able to hold the VTech comfortably, get in for really close shots without fear, and so on. I got it on sale for $25 over a year ago and it really has been a good purchase.

There's plenty of time for him to graduate to a real camera and in the meantime he's not frustrated with all kinds of esoteric menus and things like that.

[Drummer's Wife]

We have a vtech, too. I agree it's good for LO's, but that for not much older than 4 you might prefer a 'real' camera. The Vtech is pretty indestructible, though. Ours has been dropped, thrown, stepped on, etc., and still works like new. It sucks down batteries (4 AA) fast.

[Vancouver Mommy]

We got our 5yo dd a lower-end 5mp digital camera with digital zoom (meaning the lens does not move in and out so fewer pieces to break). It is a very solid camera that is simple to use, but takes much better quality pics and video than a kids camera does. I think it was about $50.