What roller blades to get for 5 and almost 8 yo girls?

[EmGee]

And accessories - knee pads etc? Can they wear normal bike helmets when they skate? Mine have never tried it but saw some kids today doing it and I thought it could make a good Christmas gift!

[EmGee]

Bump! Any ideas??

[CupofBeans]

I bought these for my daughters 9th birthday, they are the same as the ones she uses at the local roller disco and seem to be good quality.
Osprey Girls Quad Skates - Black/White/Purple, Size 13-3 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003U2SUCK/ref=cmswwrcppapi_KM7WzbHX719XY

[Janek]

We have the osprey ones too - they were good and lasted dd1 several years. In that time we found a smaller pair of another brand in a charity shop, which dd2 used for a while. These were noticiably more rubbish.

When dd1's feet grew, we replaced them decathlon roller blades and they are really good - much smoother and therefore faster than the roller skates.

[EmGee]

Thanks Janek. I'd forgotten about Decathlon and there is one near me. Cup thanks for the link!

Are the skates better to start with then move on to blades or should I just get blades? The DDs are still quite young and DD1 in particular is teeny for her age.

[Janek]

I don't know, i think balance is more important than size. Dd2 really struggled with the cheaper skates and is better now she's moved into the osprey ones, but dd1 could already skate by the time she had got the roller blades, and had been ice skating a few times, which is more like roller blading than skating.

I would say the roller blades might be very slippery in the beginning, but better in the long run.

[Fluffysparks]

Are they going to be doing it at indoor discos or outside? If indoor get rubber wheels, but otherwise plastic is fine