Children and drones, can you recommend one? Should i get one for him

[ferriswheel]

My five year old son desperately wants a drone. Its his birthday soon and am tempted to get him one. But I'm also aware there's lots of controversy surrounding them.

I know you get beginners drones, is there anything you could recommend?

Or am I way off the mark? Is it just not suitable for a child?

I'm a single parent, and for context he could use it in wide open spaces, or only inside.

Regardless of the controversies around flying them, they are one of those toys in my opinion like scalextrix whereby they are hankered after, cost a tonne of money then are hardly played with. They crash and break and need replacing bits all the time. They don't fly all that long for a charge of the battery. Disclaimer, I am basing this on dh whose hobby is building them, I gave no experience of child versions.

What about a super duper kite, if you live near the coast or hills. Theres a lot of kite festivals you could go to, for example theres one at Lytham St Anne's at the start of September

God no. Get him a kite. You can get ones that look like pteradactyls.

A drone for a five year old!!! Hopefully, he'd break the thing before it became airborne. In what universe is a drone suitable gift for a five year old?

Personally I hate the damned things.

You say he will fly it in wide open spaces. Just the sort of place my dd might be riding her horse, who would really, really not appreciate a metal thing whirring up from behind.

My 7 year old has a micro one that is about the size of one of those small Matchbox cars. He has only ever flown it inside. I wouldn't let a child outside with a drone.

would he not be better with one f those remote control helicopters? he could fly that in the house.

Too young.

Too young, yes.
And a waste of money.

I would also go with a kite or a remote controlled car. My DD has a car and whilst it crashes a lot it's quite robust and hasn't broken yet.

A 5 year old would crash a drone or remote controlled helicopter in less 5 minutes and break it.

Probably a bit young. My ds is 9, and the box said age 14 and up. It took him a lot of practice, as they can be quite tricky to control. Maybe a cheap micro drone would be better? Or a different toy.

Ridiculous gift for a 5 year old.

My ds has a cheap micro drone I think it was about £10. He loves it but it takes an hour to charge for 4 minutes flying.

My DCs have small drones that they bought in Lidl recently. They weigh approx 60g each and are rechargeable. The blades are so light that if you stick your finger in while they're running, they stop, so not dangerous.

The DCs have a lot of fun racing them, do tricks with them and set up an obstacle course around the garden to fly them through. They were told that if one landed on the roof or a neighbour's garden, there'd be hell to pay.

I would say that if you go for small, cheap and supervised at all time, it should be okay.

I think 5yo is far too young.

Get him a kite or a remote controlled car or something.

OK. I agree. Thank you everyone. I hate stuff like that so couldn't decide if I was being mean or not.

People don't need to be rude she was only asking! Well done for considering it carefully op, and not just buying one which many people would do.

I'd say if you were going for one, get a micro drone and only allow him to fly it inside. That said, they are really quite tricky to fly and take a lot of patience and practice - which a 5 year old will run out of in 2 minutes flat if he can't make to fly properly straight away.
So for his age group and attention span I'd say leave it and get something more suitable.

My 9 year old really wants one too. But when my nephew was 16 he lost his into a private field the first time he took it out. So for that reason I've said no.

The last party I was at, the 6 yo birthday boy spent the entire time crashing it into guests. Thankfully his 3 yo brother stomped on it before anyone got hurt. That's far too young to be responsible for something potentially dangerous. We have kites and the kids absolutely love taking them out.

Too young. I'm not sure if you can even have one (legally) til you're 18! I could be wrong!

From what I remember about kites, they're no
more manoeuvrable than drones. I never had one that lasted more than a day.

Even the toy grade drones are for over 14yrs, really not suitable for a 5 year old.