10 Best Kids Smart Watches 2024 | Top-rated Watches Australia
If your child isn’t quite ready for a phone, a smart watch is an excellent (and safe) option.
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Kids love devices and gadgets – usually yours! And while sharing your gadgets can be cute at first, at a certain point, it becomes a teensy bit annoying.
Enter kids smart watches. This is a fantastic introduction for younger kids who are not quite old enough for their own phone. Smart watches can be a great way to stay connected and do lots of fun stuff like take photos, play games, count steps, the list goes on. Some even have voice and video calls and handy parental control features such as location tracking.
Last year, we were not ready for our 11-year-old to have a phone, so we gave the Spacetalk Adventurer 2 a go – and it was the ideal alternative. Our daughter was able to contact family and friends in a safe way. Plus, we could call her when we wanted to, see where she was and control what she could see on the device and who she spoke to.
And there are a lot of other designs and styles out there: simple fitness watches, GPS trackers, and the kind of smart watch that puts the world at your wrist. However, you want to make sure your kid’s first smart watch is the right one – so we’ve gone through all the smart watches on the market and read countless customer reviews to rounded up the best kids smart watches to suit every lifestyle and every budget.
OUR TOP PICKS
BEST KIDS SMART WATCHES WITH PHONE CAPABILITY
Spacetalk Adventurer 2, $349 at The Good Guys
What You Need To Know
The new Spacetalk Adventurer 2 is one of the best smart watches for kids, as it’s the perfect way to stay connected with them once they start to go out into the world on their own.
Parents have complete control over the device as they can use the GPS location tracker to locate kids and create a safe contact list for kids to call, video or text. Plus the device is super durable and comes with a comfy hypo-allergenic silicone band in a range of cool tones.
We had the opportunity to try out the Spacetalk Adventurer 2 – or should I say, my 11-year old daughter got to try it out! She absolutely loved it. She’s wasn’t allowed her own phone until high school and despite the fact that in primary school, she would say “all my friends have phones”.
Her older sister didn’t get a phone until high school – and everything has to be the same, or else big sister would not be happy. So we wanted an alternative to give her responsibility and be contactable. As she walked home from school, we could see where she was, plus she could call, text or video us if she needed. She wore it everyday with a pastel yellow band and it looked great. Definitely a fantastic device until she was able to have her own phone.
KidsOClock Kids Smart Watch Phone, $169.90 at Amazon Australia
What You Need To Know
This stylish 4G smart watch comes highly rated by Product Review, so much so that it has been crowned a 2024 Product Review award winner. Ideal for giving your kid a little independence, yet knowing what they’re up to, this smart watch features GPS tracking, no social media and an SOS Emergency button. Your child can take selfies with its good quality camera, count their steps and best of all, make video calls. Plus, it’s water and dust resistant and available in black, blue, pink and purple.
One reviewer on Product Review posted the comments, “Amazing watch. Very happy with quality and service. Feel we did a lot of research across the market and picked the best one!”
Another parent who purchased through Amazon said, “My daughter loves her watch because she can text or call me anytime. Great product.”
Moochies Odyssey Smartwatch 4G, $129 (was 249) at Big W
What You Need To Know
This smart watch is an update of the super popular Moochies Connect, so while the original functions of voice and video calling, GPS tracking, and messaging still remain, there are few new features to enjoy. These include educational games, music integration, step tracking as well as heart rate and temperature monitoring. It also has a sleek new modern design with increased battery life and waterproofing so perfect for whatever your kid’s day might bring.
One parent left a five-star review saying, “Purchased for our 6yr old who just started school, we can see where he is when he is with friends and this one was a good price.”
Pixiebee Kids 4G Video Smartwatch, $158 at Amazon Australia
What You Need To Know
With the ingenious Pixbee smartwatch, kids (or teens) can make and receive phone calls and video calls and both voice chat and message only people you have pre-approved as their contacts. Usable with any compatible SIM card, there are no extra monthly costs – you just pop in the SIM, and off you go. Parents can control the watch via an app and set up GPS tracking to make sure you always know where your kids are. You can also set to “classroom mode” to ease distractions during the day. Best of all, while it uses Wi-Fi and 4G to make video calls, there’s no other internet access so no risk of social media distractions. “I have been using it with my daughter for about a week and she loves it,” writes one reviewer. “I work on weekends so she can send me photos... It is just so good to be able to talk to my daughter when she isn’t with me because I work a lot, so this is a great product.”
BEST LUXE SMART WATCHES FOR KIDS
Apple Watch, $396 at The Good Guys
What You Need To Know
This offers the ultimate in a smart watch, and probably more than you need for a child’s watch. Still it offers everything you need and you can’t go past Apple for quality, battery life and absolute convenience. This will keep your child connected with GPS and emergency calls available, not to mention healthy and active with a range of fitness tracking features. Apple watches are expensive but they are also compatible with your other Apple devices – and to top it off, it looks stunning and comes in a range of cool tones.
BEST SMART WATCHES/FITNESS TRACKERS FOR KIDS
Kidizoom Smartwatch DX2, $68.92 (down from $89) at Amazon Australia
What You Need To Know
While it has all the fitness hardware you’d want from a smart watch, its primary outlook is making things fun for kids. You can take photos with its two cameras, play fun games and challenges, count steps, and more.
There are thousands of reviews on this smart watch. One recent customer uploaded the comment, “Bought for my nephew for his birthday and he loves it and enjoys it.”
Another said, “My 6 year old loves hers! Really easy to use – she doesn’t seem to need my help very much! Great watch – makes a fab gift!”
Little Tikes Tobi Robot Smartwatch, $128.20, Amazon
Little Tikes Tobi Robot Smartwatch
What You Need To Know
Kids will love to feed Tobi the Robot, tickle it, make it dizzy and decorate its room – much like an old-school Tamagotchi. The smart watch also comes with a camera, heaps of educational games, dancing activities and fitness tracking. Plus, you can customise the faces, so kids are able to learn to tell the time on both an analogue and digital clock face. For safety, you can only send and receive voice or emoji messages and photos between known and nearby Tobi kids smart watches. It comes in two colours – pink and blue –-and it can be worn on the wrist or clipped to clothes.
One customer found this a great alternative for a connected smart watch, saying, “My first grader had been begging for smart watch for sometime, but we are far from ready to let him have internet, text, calling, etc. His friend had one of these so we bought this instead for his birthday and he loves it. The interface and games are all super simple so don’t buy it expecting advanced technology, but he can take pictures, talk to it, play a few games, and feel special by having it on his wrist. A successful gift if even to stave off cell phone/smart watch discussions by a few years.”
Fitbit Ace 3
What You Need To Know
The Fitbit Ace 3 comes in two fun colourways – blue and green or red and black. The virtual badges and animated clock faces incentivise activity, and the family challenges option allows them to go head-to-head-on-step competitions with family and friends. Sleep tracking, bedtime reminders and silent alarms encourages healthy sleeping patterns, and the eight-day battery life means it can keep up with all their energy. It’s also water resistant to 50 metres, so they can wear it in the pool and ocean.
Garmin Vivofit Jnr 3, $99 (was $149) at Amazon Australia
What You Need To Know
With the Garmin Vivofit Jnr 3, you can enjoy fun designs (including Marvel and Disney themed bands), and innovative features. Parents can monitor activities, responsibilities, sleep and even set chores and rewards. The watch pairs with a phone app with educational quizzes and built in games, and it can track steps, sleep quality and daily activity.
BEST BUDGET SMART WATCH FOR KIDS
BIGGERFIVE Fitness Tracker Watch, $37.99 at Amazon
BIGGERFIVE Fitness Tracker Watch
What You Need To Know
This smart watch is ideal for kids aged five to 18 years, so it can support them and their physical and mental health all throughout their school years. It automatically tracks steps, heart rate, and sleep, while providing message and call notifications, alarms, and a stopwatch function too. It’s waterproof so they can keep it on pretty much at all times without stress – and the battery life lasts up to seven days!
One customer uploaded a review saying, “Great value for money and a fab watch for kids. Battery life is really good and it is so easy to set up. The quality of the watch and the strap is great too. Really happy! The customer service was amazing, we had an issue where our puppy chewed through the strap on the day we received it and Biggerfive were only to happy to help us with a new one. Fantastic!”
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN BUYING A KID’S SMART WATCH
We took the following factors into consideration when choosing smart watches for this list:
Parental controls:
Safety features are paramount when choosing a smart watch for a kid. These can include real time location tracking, emergency calls, selecting who can call them and avoiding social media.
Fitness features:
You may want to include fitness tracking, so your active kids can track their activities and set challenges.
Battery life:
Ideally, you want your kids smart watch to last the whole day so they can contact you or vice versa.
Charging:
How long does it take to recharge the watch and how does it recharge?
Size:
Make sure the watch is not too big or heavy for your child’s wrist.
Durability:
Kids can be tough on their belongings, so you need a smart watch that will go the distance. Water resistance is also a handy feature to look out for, if you want the device to last.
Price:
As this is for your child, you may not want to spend a small fortune, especially as they will no doubt get their own phone one day. While prices do go above the $350 mark (Hello, Apple Watch SE), there are plenty of options under the $150 mark, and even less.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
CAN A SMART WATCH WORK WITHOUT A PHONE?
Yes, many smart watches can work without a phone – it just depends on which one you buy. For some models, having a phone will allow you to install an app to manage certain settings and track your child’s progress, although your child won’t need their own phone to use it.
WHAT AGE SHOULD A CHILD HAVE A SMART WATCH?
Each watch comes with its own recommendation, but the general consensus is that smart watches can be beneficial for kids from ages four and up.
CAN YOU TALK ON A SMART WATCH?
Yes, some smart watches – like the Spacetalk Kids Watch – allow kids to make and receive calls from the watch itself, eliminating the need for a mobile phone while keeping you connected to your child.
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