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I work in the electronics department of a major retailer and I field a lot of questions from parents looking to purchase a digital camera for their young child. I usually spend a few minutes trying to find out a bit about the child and what they'll likely use the camera for. For very young children who really just want a camera to play with and probably won't ever print them, I recommend either the Disney Pix-Clix, the Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera, or the V-Tech Kidizoom Camera. All three cameras retail for between fifty and seventy dollars, Disney makes a smaller camera that retails for around $20 but it is very tiny and may not be suitable for young children.

The Disney Pix-Clix takes pictures at VGA resolution (about .3 megapixels) and has a one inch color LCD screen for viewing them. It has 16MB of internal memory which holds around two hundred pictures. It has no zoom which some children may find frustrating. The cameras come in several different color choices all themed after Disney shows or characters which many children find appealing.

The Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera takes pictures at around 1.3 megapixels and has a one and a half inch color LCD screen for viewing. It has 8MB of internal memory which holds around sixty pictures, but it has an SD memory card slot that allows you to expand the memory. It also has no zoom capabilities. The camera has two hand grips and dual view finders to help kids get what they want in the shot. It's designed to be reasonably sturdy, hence the name. It currently comes in just two colors, pink and blue.

The V-tech Kidizoom Camera also takes pictures at VGA resolution but its screen is the largest of the three at 1.8". It has 16MB of internal memory and an SD memory card slot. Still no zoom capabilities, despite the name. Like the Fisher-Price camera, it has dual hand grips and viewfinders. This camera has a few added features, namely built-in games and interchangeable faceplates for customization.

For sightly older children who want to be able to print their pictures, I usually recommend a fairly unknown camera, the Polaroid Pixie. The Pixie is designed much like the Fisher-Price and V-tech cameras, but has 3 megapixels of resolution. Three megapixels is not amazing resolution but it will print a decent 4x6 photo. It only has 16MB of internal memory but it has an SD memory card slot. The Pixie has 2x digital zoom to give children a wider range of focus. Like the V-tech camera, the Pixie has built-in games but it only comes in two colors, pink and blue. The Pixie is a bit pricey, retailing for around eighty dollars.

For most preteens, I usually recommend one of our lower-end adult digital cameras. For eighty to a hundred dollars, you can purchase a six megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom and enough features to satisfy your child for years to come. They also come in a wide variety of colors and you have your choice of manufacturers. You can choose the manufacturer that you are most comfortable with, though I recommend Kodak because they are typically easier to use.

Learn more about this author, Ann-Katherine Souilliard.
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