Digital Camera for a 3 Year Old

Check out JCPenney online. They had one that looked really nice for about $20.00 and I think it got good reviews. My brother just bought my kids the under water digital cameras. They are nice because it comes with a clear case that gives extra protection. We haven't used them yet so I'm not sure of the photo quality.

I don't know what quality you're looking for, but my best advice to you, if you want actual pictures printed from the camera and not just an expensive toy, is to look for one with megapixles higher than 1. We bought our daughter the Fisher Price kid tough camera last Christmas because she LOVES to take pictures with my Kodak camera and does a fairly good job for a 3 year old. The style of the camera is great for little hands and it does seem quite durable, but that is the best I can say about it.

Unfortunately, the button was difficult for a 3 year old to push, but most of all, the pictures she was able to take were HORRIBLE when we downloaded them. *I* couldn't even take a good picture with it. I can email you an example of one that I took, if you like. It is a 1.3 INTERPOLATED megapixle (many of the pixels are "filled in" and guessed at based on a lesser number of pixels actually recorded) meaning a VERY low quality picture. The screen to see the picture wasn't much better.

She loved having her own camera, but she wanted the pictures printed off and they simply were not recognizable. It's not a bad toy and I wouldn't have minded paying $10 for it, but for $60, we could get her a REAL camera that would take descent pictures. We ended up taking it back.

I see they've redesigned it already, but they have not improved the picture quality. I am not impressed with the VTech either, because it is only 1.3 MP camera. The Crayola also seems to be a low quality picture.

The Leap Frog is a 2.1 MP, which would be somewhat improved, however, there is also a Poloroid Pixie that takes a 3MP pic, you might want to check it out too. It seems to be for slightly older children because it also has games, but it says it's for those serious about taking digital pictures.

Here is a blog evaluation of several children's cameras: http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/11/zrecs-kids-digital-came...

My 3yr old has one from Disney and we like it alot. It actually has a very good picture quality. Plus, it makes fun noises for him and he can put Disney characters in his pictures. He loves that thing and would carry it everywhere we go if we'd let him hehe

I found the V-tech took better pictures and had other options that the fisher price one did not. Then again, we baught ours three years ago...so much could have changed in that time! My son LOVED (and still does) his Fisher Price one but he LOVES photography. He takes it on important trips and to new places. If I were to go back though, I would hands down get the V-tech. My friend got that one for her kids and I just like it more. There are also no games on the Fisher price one (well there weren't). It takes a beating well. He's a boy and that camera has been to texas, oklahoma, dropped throughout air ports and played with the dog! Haha. I found it to be a great investment!

Buy a cheap "real" digital camera rather than a kid camera. My 3 year old daughter has a Dora camera that she never uses. She only wants to use our camera. It was the same with toy cell phones - she had a toy one that she never used but we gave her an old "real" one that doesn't work and she still "talks" on it.

I have spent money on 2 kids' cameras. They are cheaply made, don't work very well and break fast. We finally got a cheaper but good regular camera for our son. That's what I would recommend. You can get a lot of good cameras on ebay or craigslist for cheap; something that's 1 or 2 seasons old will still work like a charm and is more durable than these 'toy cameras'.

Hi C.:

We bought our 3 year old daughter the Fisher Price camera for her birthday but ended up taking it back for 2 reasons. One was the button was hard for her to push down to take the photo. The second was that the battery life was very short, less than 8 photos. We used rechargeable batteries and then alkaline and no better success with either. We hope to find another one for Christmas...

We purchased a V-Tech for my daughter. We are not in love with it. The view finder is not in line with the lens so if our daughter uses the view finder to set up her picture she cuts off everyone's heads. The picture quality is very poor. On the positive note, she can use it and manipulate it without help. She is also getting better since we have taught her to use the screen to set up her pictures and ignore the view finder. Honestly, if your son is fairly careful with things, we would probably purchase an inexpensive regular digital camera. That is what we wished we had done.

A.

I purchased the disney digital camera last christmas and it has really held up! I just changed the original batteries last month!!!! He uses it all the time, understands perfectly how a camera works and it has been thrown, chewed on, dropped in the toilet (says it is not water resistant on the label though) and everything else. It has little disney characters he can insert on his pictures and he loves it. It is amazing that the batteries lasted and it held up so well! The picture quality isn't that great, but then it is only 2 mp, so I didn't really expect them to be great. He truly loves his camera, and now my 2 yr old loves it too. I would recommend this camera to anyone.
Livy

My daughter got the Fisher Price camera last year at 4 yrs. and we love it! Unlike the other responce about Fisher Price, the batteries have lasted and lasted. My daughter has taken 1000's of pictures and can snap and delete to her hearts content. As for holding up- it's been in the lake, been dropped, I don't know how many times, it's been thrown at the cement and lived in our car for a couple days at subzero temps. I highly recomend it!

We had a v-teck. the only problem i had was it did not carry too many picutes (maybe that changed) so I was always having to download or erase pictures). Also did not like the picture qualities and the screen. But it was fun toy for Christmas and my daughter did enjoy it. What I did like about the v-teck it did take the bumps and bruises of being dropped and knocked and even fell in cereal. Even now when she can use my digital for a picture here and there and she is a better texter of pictures on the cell phone, she still every once and a while will pick up the vteck and play with it. It also has games on it.