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Best fitness trackers for kids

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4 years ago

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Fitness trackers for kids can help prepare your child to lead an active and productive lifestyle by letting them monitor their health, set task reminders, and get motivated with rewards systems.

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By Miller Kern

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 fitness trackers for kids are made specifically with children in mind. That means they’re not focused on weight loss, but rather forming good habits and leading an active lifestyle.

What makes a fitness tracker kid-friendly?

Fitness trackers for kids are simplified versions of those for adults — they trade out smartwatch features for motivational games and rewards systems. Your kid doesn’t really need an Apple Watch to count their steps and monitor their heart rate.

The best fitness trackers for kids have more kid-friendly designs, with some featuring themes from Star Wars, Frozen, and other Disney favorites. The terms “activity tracker” and “fitness tracker” are interchangeable when it comes to kids. You can just as much use one of these trackers to keep your child on task with homework, chores, and bedtime as you can use it to monitor health data.

Benefits of kids using fitness trackers

Using a fitness tracker 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 will actually get excited about getting up and moving or completing chores and tasks 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. Mundane tasks become more fun when they’re integrated into games and rewards. 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.

What if my kid doesn’t have a smartphone?

Your child doesn’t need a smartphone 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 — most are built right into the device. Phones are just needed for syncing, in-app games and bonus features, or any extra content. Step tracking, alarms, and other quick-access features are all accessible from your child’s wrist.

When shopping for a fitness tracker for your child, think about durability if you know your kid plays rough. And keep in mind which features are most important: Do you just want something basic? Or will your kid really benefit from extra games and activities?

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


Fun Disney themes • Sleep tracking • Fitness coach built in • Easy to add multiple users to the app • Doesn’t have to be charged

Only Disney themed, no generic interface

The Garmin Vívofit Jr. 2 is an exceptional activity tracker, as long as your kid is a Disney fan.

1. Garmin Vívofit Jr. 2

Games, rewards, and Disney help this tracker motivate kids.

  • Battery life:
    Non-rechargeable, up to one year
  • Sleep tracking:
    Yes
  • Water resistance:
    Waterproof up to 50 meters
Kids will actually enjoy doing homework and chores and getting their daily steps in when doing so unlocks games, activities, and rewards from their favorite Disney character. That’s what happens with the Garmin Vívofit Jr. 2 fitness tracker.
The activity tracker comes in different character designs from favorites like Frozen and Star Wars. As a parent, you can use the app to manage your kid’s chores and give them rewards when they finish tasks. Alerts and task timers will have your kid staying on top of their homework and other responsibilities. 
As far as fitness tracking, the Vívofit Jr. 2 counts steps, monitors sleep patterns, and provides physical activities to follow along with. These are pretty basic like jumping jacks, downward dog, and mountain climbers — your kid won’t be going through baby bootcamp. Within the Garmin Connect app, the whole family can sync up your Garmin fitness trackers to interact and compete in challenges.

Waterproof • Industry-leading fitness tracking • Rewards and celebrations for meeting goals

Switching between Parent View and Kid View can be a pain

The Fitbit Ace 2 is an impressive tracker, but it might be a bit of a hassle if your kid doesn’t have a phone.

2. Fitbit Ace 2

Fitbit’s industry-leading fitness tracking is made available to kids.

  • Battery life:
    Up to five days
  • Sleep tracking:
    Yes
  • Water resistance:
    Waterproof up to 50 meters
Fitbit families can easily integrate the kids into the lineup with the Fitbit Ace 2, the brand’s fitness tracker made just for children (best for those 6 or older). If you already use a Fitbit yourself, you know that the trackers are intuitive and the app interface is super clean. You can sync it to your app if your kid doesn’t have a smartphone, though switching between Parent View and Kid View can be kind of a pain.
Within the app, kids can challenge their friends to step competitions and send messages. You can set goals, reminders, and more on the tracker and kids get rewarded with virtual badges and on-screen celebrations when they hit goals.
The Ace 2 tracks sleep patterns and has bedtime reminders to get your little one on a proper schedule. It’s also waterproof for any swimmers (or those who forgot to take it off in the bath.) Whether your kid likes to run, jump, or skip, their movement will be counted toward steps and active minutes within the fitness tracker.

Texting and calling capabilities • Touchscreen face • Reward system

Two-year Verizon contract necessary • No sleep tracking

If you’re OK trading in some health tracking for smartwatch capabilities, this makes for a great purchase.

3. Verizon GizmoWatch 2

This watch is ideal for communication and fitness features.

  • Battery life:
    Up to four days
  • Sleep tracking:
    No
  • Water resistance:
    Waterproof up to 1 meter
The Verizon GizmoWatch 2 is more of a smartwatch than a fitness tracker, but it does still have some activity tracking built in. It’ll count steps and lets you and your child set encouraging fitness goals. 
Parents can also set reminders and tasks and send rewards when those tasks are completed. The watch’s touchscreen face is large enough that kids can easily see all of their tasks, reminders, and fitness data.
Because this is also a smartwatch, it has a GPS tracker so you can monitor your kid’s location — you can even set up boundaries and get alerts when your child travels outside them. The watch also stores up to 10 contacts and has functionality to call or text those contacts.

Advanced fitness tracking • Waterproof • 15+ programmed exercises

Not suitable for young kids • Won’t fit tiny wrists

The Charge 3 allows older kids who are more serious about fitness tracking accurately monitor their health.

4. Fitbit Charge 3

Pre-teens can skip the kiddie games and designs with the Charge 3.

  • Battery life:
    Up to seven days
  • Sleep tracking:
    Yes
  • Water resistance:
    Waterproof up to 50 meters
Older kids don’t necessarily need incentives, rewards, and games to want to be active and track their fitness. And they don’t need extra-small wrist bands either. Fitbit’s Charge 3 is a great fitness tracker for late elementary and middle school aged kids (and older).
It’s one of Fitbit’s top trackers, and for good reason. This watch has virtually everything you’d want in a fitness tracker. It has 24/7 heart rate monitoring, step counting, sleep tracking, and a swimproof design. It’s pre-programmed with more than 15 goal-based exercises like running, biking, and swimming — it’s more advanced than trackers designed specifically for kids and allows your child to track even more aspects of their fitness life. It even has menstrual cycle tracking if your kid’s getting to that age.
For kids with smartphones, the Charge 3 integrates notifications and a few apps. But it’s not a full-blown smartwatch chock full of distractions.

Two band colors • Affordable • Easy charging

Limited fitness tracking • Basic features

While it probably won’t wow you with features, this has all the basics you need in a fitness tracker.

5. Biggerfive fitness tracker watch

With simple features, this is a nice option without breaking the bank.

  • Battery life:
    Up to seven days
  • Sleep tracking:
    Yes
  • Water resistance:
    Waterproof up to 1 meter
For less than $25, this fitness tracker from Biggerfive is actually pretty impressive. It counts steps, calories, and mileage, fitting kids ages 5 and up. Each tracker comes with two different colored bands, and there are three combos to choose from.
Kids will be more excited to get up in the morning with silent vibrating alarms and sleep tracking data. This tracker is pretty basic and doesn’t feature rewards systems, games, task reminders, or other bonus features like that. It’s a good choice if you just want simple fitness tracking.
The activity tracker is easy to charge as it has a USB built right in, meaning you don’t need any extra cords — just plug it right in to a charging brick. Because of the price, you can’t really expect the same features and durability as some of the name brand options, but this is a nice starter and budget option.

Provides food to kids in need • Teaches children about other cultures • Waterproof

Extremely basic fitness tracking

This tracker lets kids channel their activity into giving back to charity and it has “missions” to learn about other cultures.

6. UNICEF Kid Power Band

Kids will learn about culture and use activity to give back to those in need.

  • Battery life:
    About two weeks
  • Sleep tracking:
    No
  • Water resistance:
    Waterproof up to 1 meter
A slight twist on the classic activity tracker, the UNICEF Kid Power Band lets kids use their activity to give back. Within the app, children can go on “missions” that teach them about different countries and cultures around the world.
While this band tracks steps and daily activity, the coolest part is that your child’s activity unlocks food packets that UNICEF delivers to malnourished kids.
This is a super basic fitness tracker and honestly focuses more on the learning and giving back aspects, so if you’re looking for in-depth fitness tracking, this is not going to be the option for you. But if you want your kids to channel their usual daily activity into some charity work, this is a really cool device.

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