The Best Kid-Friendly Cameras We’ve Tested for 2025

The Fujifilm Instax Pal is a pricey prospect for parents at $199.95, but it includes two devices: a tiny one-button digital camera and an instant film printer. The Pal camera looks cute thanks to its mouse ears and tail, while the printer adds a tactile nature to snapshots that other digitals can’t match. We just wish you could buy the camera by itself especially since you can get the bundled Instax Mini Link 2 printer separately. Regardless, the pair makes for a fun experience.

The Fuji Instax Mini 12 is a perfect first instant camera. It’s affordable (though you have to feed it film, at roughly $0.70 per image) and has big rounded edges that make it comfortable to hold. Everything is automatic, and it even has a mirror to help kids frame selfies.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini EVO is a pocketable compact that snaps shots digitally (meaning you can take as many photos as you want) and features a built-in printer that uses Instax Mini film. It’s a great way to get your tween started with photography, and, unlike pure analog options like the Instax Mini 12, you can keep making photos even after you run out of film.

The Camp Snap Screen-Free Digital camera is essentially a digital version of the classic disposable 35mm point-and-shoot, the type you’d pick up as a last-minute item on the way to vacation or summer camp. Today, most kids snap pictures with a smartphone, but that won’t be allowed at a screen-free summer camp. The Snap Camera doesn’t have a screen, just a viewfinder, so it works like an old-school camera, with lo-fi digital results from its 8MP sensor. The Camp Snap camera costs just $69.95, includes a pre-installed 4GB memory card, and a built-in 500-photo battery with USB-C charging.

An action camera like the GoPro Hero12 Black is a good choice if your kid is interested in making videos of their bike or skateboarding adventures. The camera is tough enough to withstand drops, records sharp 5.3K video, and can go as deep as 33 feet underwater. It offers strong stabilization, too, so it works well for vlogging. The Hero12 isn’t the latest model (that would be the Hero13 Black), so you can get it for around $300, a big drop from its original price.

Film photography is trendy on social media platforms, so youngsters might want to try it out for themselves. The Kodak Ektar H35N is an excellent starter pick for anyone who’s never used film before. It supports focus-free, one-button operation, is small enough for tweens and teens to use comfortably, and its half-frame format means you get twice as many pictures on a roll compared with a normal 35mm camera.

Looking for a project to do with your school-age child? The Lomo Konstruktor is both a learning tool and a camera. It’s an all-plastic 35mm SLR that comes to you in pieces. After removing all of its parts from plastic trees, it’s up to you to build it. It’s not a pricey investment, and even if you never run a roll of film through it, the process teaches budding engineers what makes a camera work.

An interchangeable lens camera is a good choice if you’re buying for older students with an interest in photography. It opens up more creative possibilities, including manual control and the option to use macro, telephoto, and other specialized lenses.

The Canon EOS R50 is a good starter option for tweens, teens, and college students. Its body is quite small, so it fits well into younger hands, and it includes a flip-out screen with touch support. The R50’s autofocus is superb for an entry-level camera, and it includes eye detection for people, pets, and wildlife. An ideal starter camera for budding creators, it snaps pictures at 24MP and supports 4K30 video.