Flanked by four-year-old Bethany and seven-year-old James in full command of the snappers, WIRED put six of the latest kids cameras to task. We asked our young reviewers to get creative taking photos in the local park, with no stone left unturned and no splashpad or sandpit out of bounds. We reviewed how easy it was for our budding photographers to get to grips with the menu settings and special features on each camera, and also assessed the designs for durability, photo quality and added extras.

Vtech Kidizoom Duo 5.0

This robust design impresses straight out of the box and takes four AA batteries. Colourful icons on the 2.4-inch LCD screen and sound effects make it easy to navigate the settings on the menu. After just a few minutes of playing around with it, the kids were able to take a photo and overlay clipart onto their pictures, change the colour filter and use the selfie camera – it’s easy to change to the front and rear lens with a touch of a button. The camera lets you record video and even has a voice recorder with voice-changing effects.

There are up to 70 different effects on the camera, including cartoons, collage, frames and stamps, and it reminds us of Apple’s Photobooth for kids. "I love the ‘silly mirrors’ effect," says Bethany – a feature that lets you warp an image in several different ways. She also found the ‘just for fun’ Silly Face Detector, which scans a photo and tells you how silly you are, very amusing. The results? “68% Genius” for Bethany, “58% Genius” for James.

The camera’s child-friendly design bounces off the floor, with no marks or scratches reported after the children dropped it (a few times!). The body of the camera is slightly clunky for smaller kids, but its rubber casing is light to touch and robust. Bethany soon got sidetracked with playing the five games.

Price: £40 | Check price on Amazon | Argos | John Lewis

Pros: Great for selfies and special effects

Cons: Clunky design, yet durable

Age range: 3-9 years

Dimensions and weight: 6 x 15.2 x 9.2cm, 322g

Camera: 2 megapixel front camera, 4x digital zoom

Price: £40 from Amazon

Score: 9/10

Kurio SNAP

One of the slimmest camera designs in our test, the Kurio has a kid-friendly blue frame with splashproof and shockproof bumper. It describes itself as a digital photobooth and has an LCD touchscreen display that makes it feel a bit like a miniature tablet. It gives you up to 1GB built-in memory for video and stills, which adds up to around 800 photos and takes a micro SD for up to 32GB.

Once a photo had been taken, the kids could then choose from a range of editing apps to change filters, draw on their photos and add colourful stamps and frames. They could also add sound effects to their pictures and customise videos with a Boomerang effect.

Both children enjoyed the built-in games that allowed them to add a photo of themselves and use the tools to shoot down flies or become a hairdresser or chef. "I love using the scissors and changing my hairstyle on the hair salon game," says Bethany.

It took a while for the kids to work out that they could swivel the lens towards them to take a selfie, but once figured out it was easy to use.

The camera is Wi-Fi capable, so it’s easy to share photos and videos digitally using the dedicated app and send your photos to be printed. With the help of WIRED, the kids could choose to adjust the video resolution (up to 720p) and picture resolution (up to 3MP) and change the length of a video recording from 30 seconds up to 10 minutes – although this was not something they were remotely interested in doing.

Price: £80 | Check price on Amazon | Boots

Pros: Wi-Fi capable

Cons: Standard photo quality

Age range: 4+

Dimensions and weight: 13 x 2.3 x 11.7cm, 231g

Camera: 3 megapixel camera, 4x digital zoom

Price: £80 from Amazon

Score: 7/10

PELLOR Digital Camera for Kids

Once a micro-SD was slotted in by an adult - something not supplied with the camera on purchase – and 2 AAA batteries fitted, Bethany and James were good to go. The camera comes with an orange waterproof ‘intensity shell’ casing which makes for a fun design, but the chrome buttons are slightly fiddly for little hands.

Settings include modes for scenes such as party, beach, sport, day and nightlight and underwater, but the camera lacks easily recognisable kid-friendly buttons for youngsters to understand how to operate it. The camera can record video sound, but this can only be played back on computer, not the actual camera.

This waterproof design can go 3m underwater for video and 4000 X 3000 resolution stills, while the dust-proof casing means it’s protected on the beach – so it was well tested in the playground sandpit. Its pocket-size body is ideal for small hands and its lightweight feel at 99.8g with handstrap makes it easy to carry.

The camera has a rubber shell, which means it can be dropped from a 1.5m height and the kids enjoyed ‘testing’ this promise by hurling it from the top of the climbing frame. The camera survived, unscathed.

Price: £46 | Check price on Amazon

Pros: Comes with a self timer – up to 2, 5 and 10 seconds

Cons: Pocket-size

Age range: 3+

Dimensions and weight: 9.4 x 2.5 x 7.1cm, 99.8g

Camera: 5 megapixel camera, 4x digital zoom

Price: £46 from Amazon

Score: 5/10

DROGRACE

This compact kids sports action camera shoots in 1080P HD and comes in a range of colours including yellow, blue, green and pink. We found quite a few similar designs online, under different brand names, but this stood out as one of the most popular.

Its small frame is easy to hold, and once fitted into the waterproof casing it can be used in depths of up to 10m – Bethany and James enjoyed using it to record video and take stills in the splashpad, safe in the knowledge that it was well protected in its sturdy casing. This secure exterior also acts as protection against accidental bumps and knocks and general wear and tear.

You’ll need a micro-SD card to use it – up to 32GB – and the camera takes about three hours to charge, which gives you about 90 minutes of recording time. Once fitted you can make use of its built-in filter effects and photo frame modes on its 1.77inch LCD screen. The kids enjoyed using the bunny frame mode to decorate their portraits.

It comes with tripods accessories for the kids to mount it onto apparatus such as helmets, bicycles and scooters, too. It also comes with a handstrap, which is useful for keeping the design close to hand while underwater diving. A useful pouch makes sure this camera is well protected when not in use.

Price: £30 | Check price on Amazon

Pros: Great waterproof option

Cons: No games; menu not ideal for younger kids

Age range: 3-10 years

Dimensions and weight: 2.5 x 4.5 x 5.8cm, 540g

Camera: 5 megapixel camera, 5x digital zoom

Price: £30 from Amazon

Score: 6/10

Vtech Kidizoom Action Cam 180

By far the most attractive design in our test, this action camera is like a child’s version of the GoPro camera, taking stills and recording video in stop motion, slow motion and fast motion. It features an easily rotable 180-degree lens to capture action shots and selfies, and comes with an adhesive mount for attaching to skateboards and snowboards. There’s also a bicycle mount for more adventurous action shots.

We were all impressed with the quality of this design and its sturdy protective waterproof casing – it can be used down to 1.8 metres under water. Unfortunately there’s no zoom, but the quality from the 0.3 megapixel camera was good. Bethany and James particularly liked shooting slow-motion video while running in and out of the splashpad. "It can go underwater for ages - and it still works!" says Bethany.

The three built-in games went down well, too. Once photos have been taken, they can then be decorated with special effects, stamps and frames and distorted with a range of filters. The menu features aren’t as easy to navigate as the Kidzoom Duo, so it’s easy to see why this camera is aimed at older children.

Price: £45 | Check price on Amazon | Argos | Smyths Toys

Pros: 2.5 hours continuous photo or video

Cons: You’ll need a bag to house all the parts

Age range: 5-11 years

Dimensions and weight: 2.2 x 9 x 6.4cm, 240g

Camera: 0.3 megapixel camera, no digital zoom

Price: £45 from Argos

Score: 8/10

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This article was originally published by WIRED UK