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How do I Choose the Best Walkie Talkies for Kids?

Judith Smith Sullivan
Judith Smith Sullivan

There are many kinds of great walkie talkies for kids. The best choice for you will fit your needs, your budget and your style. There are walkie talkies available for children age 3 and older. Walkie talkies also have a variety of distance ranges and durability.

Before you buy, think about the use of the walkie talkie. Young children and older children will use walkie talkies differently. There are walkie talkies for almost every age group, excluding only infants.

Most inexpensive walkie talkies for kids have a range of up to a mile.
Most inexpensive walkie talkies for kids have a range of up to a mile.

When choosing walkie talkies for kids that are very young, age 3-5, you might need only a toy walkie talkie. These do not actually function for communication, but they allow the child to pretend. If you choose this style, make sure that there are no small parts that may pose a choking hazard.

Your budget is another factor in your search for the best walkie talkies for kids. There's no reason to buy the most expensive, professional-grade walkie talkie for a child, but the least expensive walkie might be a disappointment. A cheap walkie talkie probably has a short range and very poor durability. You can spend a little more money to get a better quality walkie talkie that will last longer.

Some walkie talkies can transmit up to 36 miles.
Some walkie talkies can transmit up to 36 miles.

Older children will typically want a walkie talkie that can function well over a distance covering several city blocks or a neighborhood. Most inexpensive walkie talkies for kids have a range of up to a mile (1.6 km). This is fine for talking to a friend across the street or playing spy games in the yard. Walkie talkies that have popular cartoon characters or other licensed designs often fall into this category.

Children should not be given walkie talkies that can pick up and transmit across bands used by emergency services.
Children should not be given walkie talkies that can pick up and transmit across bands used by emergency services.

If a child wants to use the walkie talkie for longer distances, you'll need a more sophisticated model. These might be a little more expensive. The advantage is that the walkie talkie will continue to be useful to the child for many years to come. There are walkie talkies that transmit well up to 36 miles (58 km).

Walkie talkies for kids come in three basic styles: handheld, headset and wristwatch. The handheld model has a push-to-talk button and sometimes a belt clip for carrying. The headset fits like headphones and has an attached, adjustable boom microphone. The wristwatch, arguably the coolest of all, is a watch and walkie talkie in one. The traditional walkie talkies have the best distance ranges, but the wristwatch might be more difficult for a child to lose because it is strapped onto his or her wrist.

Discussion Comments

Mykol

My kids love their walkie talkies. I didn't spend much on them and they usually play with them in the house but really like to take them camping.

These are actually walkie talkie phones and they are brightly colored with big buttons that are easy for kids to push.

Because they look like a cell phone it also makes them very appealing for them. Like most things though, they would rather play with the real thing, but they like the sounds they are able to create with these walkie talkies.

When we are packing to go camping, this is one of the things they always want to take along. For some reason they are more fun to use outside than in the house.

LisaLou

One year for Christmas my sister and I got some walkie talkie radios. We live in a small town and our cousins were spending the night, so we had a blast with these walkie talkies.

I don't remember much about them other than we could hear each other from across town - which seemed a lot bigger when I was a kid than it really is.

They would not have been nearly as much fun if we had not been able to hear each other when we were out of sight.

We played with them quite a bit during the year and I don't ever know what happened to them, but have a lot of great memories from using them.

These were hand held walkie talkies with a clip to put on your belt if you weren't holding it. I usually had it in my hand because it was so fun to hear that sound knowing someone was getting ready to send me a message and I wanted to be ready to reply back right away.

backdraft

I got these really cool walkie talkies for my sons. They not only transmit their voices, they can also change the sound of the voices so that they sound like other people. One of the sounds gives you a robot voice, another one makes your voice very high and a third one makes it very low. None of the effects are great but the kids get a big kick out of them.

It does wonders for their imagination. They can go to opposite rooms and pretend they are talking with ET or a dragon or something. It always leads them to get into character. I liked walkie talkies a lot when I was a kid, but new technologies make them more fun than ever.

tigers88

Durability is a big thing to consider when buying walkie talkies for your kids. If yours are anything like mine they will probably use the walkies more as projectiles than communication devices. My kids have thrown their against walls, hit them with bats, jumped out of tress on top of them and buried them in the backyard. Miraculously, they still work.

Lots of these that are made for kids use cheap plastic and weak assemblies inside. When you go to buy one, pick it up and feel its weight, rattle it around in your hand to get a sense for what is inside. If it seems like your kids will obliterate it within a week, its probably not your best buy.

MrSmirnov

My sons like pretending they are in the military so I got them walkie talkie headsets for Christmas. They can pretend they are on secret missions all they want.

What I really like about the set I got them is that they look really professional. I didn't pay that much for them, but they look like something you would see being used in a black ops action movie scene.

It was pretty nice being the cool dad for once when they figured out what their presents were. I am just glad they haven't started asking me for night vision goggles or anything too crazy.

Sara007

If you want to buy a walkie talkie set for your kids it is a good idea to go when there is an electronics sale on. I got a really cute set of wrist walkie talkies for my kids and they love to play spy with them.

I think that since technology has advanced so much you can get things like walkie talkies for a much lower price than you used to. The set I bought on sale only cost $20 and are pretty long range walkie talkies considering they are just for fun. One thing I like most about walkie talkies is they have kept my youngsters from asking me for cell phones.

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    • Most inexpensive walkie talkies for kids have a range of up to a mile.
      By: sonya etchison
      Most inexpensive walkie talkies for kids have a range of up to a mile.
    • Some walkie talkies can transmit up to 36 miles.
      By: Jamie Wilson
      Some walkie talkies can transmit up to 36 miles.
    • Children should not be given walkie talkies that can pick up and transmit across bands used by emergency services.
      By: Christopher Dodge
      Children should not be given walkie talkies that can pick up and transmit across bands used by emergency services.