What Age Can Children Fly Drones? Parents Guide 2021 Updated

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

With children constantly pointing at things and asking if they can have stuff, or seeing a TV commercial and asking to have ‘one of those’ you might be used to critically balancing whether to say yes or no. But what about them asking for a drone.

So, what age can children fly drones?

 Well, children of any age above 7 are capable enough of flying beginner drones. These drones are easy-to-use, durable, and helpful in providing a learning experience. Drones that are more advanced should only be handed to children once they reach an age of 14-16 depending upon their drone expertise.

Drone shopping for kids is not an easy task. The skills required to successfully pilot a drone can be considerable, and add in altitude, long distance, speed and situational awareness, giving you many considerations to make an informed decision.

If we talk about drone prices, it actually depends upon the features, size, inclusions, camera if there is any, and technology it uses. But beginner drones come for affordable prices which is why they’re the perfect drones to start your children’s drone flying journey with.

Nowadays kids are into drones in a big way, it looks like such a fantastic toy, and it’s a great way to get your children to be outdoors. The beginner drone should be start up friendly easy so you can start flying quickly.

The drone market for kids is huge and full of options. 

An Introduction to Beginner Drones:

Firstly, a drone is not a traditional type of toy. This is critical for your kids to know, and they have to be educated about it before they even start flying for the first time. 

To give you a brief introduction to drones, I’d say that you can think of drones are mini vehicles. They require constant focus, attention, motor controls, and a constant practice to be flown properly. So, your child needs to know that.

If possible try to practice your drones indoors before going outside. The major factors like YAY, Pitch and Roll are very important to know.

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What Features to Look for In a Beginner Drone?

Beginner drones have many cool specs that typically work well to teach you how to fly a drone and advance your drone piloting skills. But when you’re purchasing drones for your children, make sure they have a few of the important features every beginner drone must have.

Below is a list of all the major elements, components, and features you should look for, in a beginner drone.

Long Battery Life – When you’re learning to fly a new drone, you’re going to have to take it for a lot of practice sessions. In such cases, having a drone with a longer battery life or a drone that comes with multiple batteries that can be replaced any time will be good for your learning experience.

Compact Body – Typically most beginner drones are compact in terms of size, and that’s how they should be. If you choose a drone that is larger in size, you might face difficulty controlling it and ultimately cause problems for yourself. Smaller drones are easier to manuever and that’s why preferrable.

Durability and Robustness – Drone durability and robustness are both very important factors. It is actually incredibly important that your drone is durable because in early stages of your drone flying experiences, you’re going to crash your drone a lot of times and a good quality drone won’t falter after that.

Spare Parts – If you’re buying a beginner drone from the market, make sure it comes with a few excess parts or as we call them spare parts. These spare parts can be spare props, extra batteries, and other bits and bobs that you can replace right away if any kind of problem appears in the drone.

Simple Controls – Beginner drones are supposed to be simple to learn to fly. When you’re buying a beginner drone for your child, make sure you get one that comes with simple and bare-bones controls that are still capable of teaching your child everything they need to know. Any excessive complex controls will result in the child getting confused and having difficulty learning to fly the drones..

Beginner Drones – What Age They Designed For?

There’s a whole market of beginner drones out there, designed specifically, for the first time flyer. These drones range from smaller micro-drones to proper camera drones as well but their feature sets are on the simpler side.

Here is the list of the best drones along with the age group. Altair drones especially excel in making drones for kids that’s why you’re going to find so many of their inclusions in this list.

So, it seems that taking a comparable look, a basic drone for a young child should be flown in and around the age of 7 years and upwards. Before this age, handing a child a drone can not only be a waste of money but also hazardous and damaging.

Obviously, you know your child, so you can make an informed decision on whether to go ahead or not, but here are the manufacturers guidelines on a few beginner drones that you should read up on.

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What Can Beginner Drones Do?

All drones, whether professional, consumer drones or even beginners can come with cameras. The very purpose of a drone for many.

The resolution of the beginner drone is not as high as the professional drones. Their flight time is also shorter.

Battery life is not that long-lasting. These drones serve the purpose of flying and having fun with it for kids or any beginner.

Here are some of the best beginner drones available.

• Syma X5SW-V3
• Parrot Rolling Spider
• UDI 818A HD+
• Drocon Blue Bugs 3W/4K Camera Mount
• Husban X4 H107C
• DJI Mavic Mini Camera Quadcopter
• Sky Viper Scout Video Streaming Quadcopter

Benefits for Drone Flying for Children:

If you’re thinking of giving your child a gift for their birthday, a beginner drone will make an excellent one. The reason is that drones are great in providing an educational learning experience to children.

Here are some of the main benefits of drone flying that your children will be able to check out.

Aerodynamics – All kinds of drones function on the principals of aerodynamics. The drones can move from one place to another, change directions, and go up and down depending upon the angle and the speed of the propellors. So, your child will be able to learn a lot about aerodynamics by flying drones.

Critical Thinking – When you’re flying a drone outside the house, there are a lot of things to think about. Making sure you’re flying in a safe space while keeping in view the FAA rules and regulations can require critical thinking. Drone flying children can develop cognitive ability and critical thinking much faster.

Movement Control – Drone remote controllers come with a lot of buttons and sticks that control the movement of the drone. Knowing the right thing to do and pressing the right buttons also contributes to the development of a child’s thinking capabilities.

Introduction to Technology – Beginner drones like the Hornet and the Falcon from Altair can actually serve as great introductions to drone technology for children. This introduction and understanding can help them keep up with the technology changes that are coming into the world at a rapid pace.

Drone Flight Guidelines for Children Age Groups:

When you’re looking to get a drone for your child, the ideal thing to do would be looking for a drone that offers the best learning experience but should not be hard to handle or complex to fly.

Let’s take a look at some drone flight guidelines for varying children age groups.

Aged Less than 7 – Before the age of 7, children are still developing and learning to react and interact with things. Even beginner drones require a certain level of attention and commitment to learn.

In this age, handing your child a drone for them to fly wouldn’t be a great idea, and you should try to avoid giving your children any drone gifts before they turn at least 7.

They could essentially end up hurting themselves which is a situation you’d definitely want to avoid.

Aged 7 to 10 – In this age, children are ready to be given their first beginner drones. You can find an affordable and simple drone with easy controls, good battery, and a great durability factor so that the child can fly, crash, and learn to pilot the drones well.

So, in this age, your children will get to learn about all the basics and advance their drone flying skills which is essential if they want to get better at this hobby.

Aged 10 to 12 – At this age, if your child has already been flying drones, they’re now ready for an upgrade.

A semi-professional drone that comes with cool features, camera, gimbal, but easy setup and ready to fly capabilities will be great for honing their skills and helping them become better flyers.

Aged 12 to 14 – Children that have been flying for a few years are ready to handle professional drones.  They’re going to be able to adjust to new technology and features in a matter of moments and make their drone flying expeirence even better.

Over 14 – Well, if your child is above 14, and they know their drone piloting, then they’re golden. There are limitless options and getting a high-quality professional drone for them would be a treat for them.

They’ll be able to take their hobby and perhaps even push it to a profession if they’re good with flying the drones and taking stunning visuals and pictures with their drones.

Over 16- At this age, you are open to options. It depends on what they want from their drone.

Do you want to fly drones just for fun, or they want to explore and take good pictures and videos? Maybe they want to be an FPV Pilot and take part in drone racing competition.

You need some kind of professional drone if you are not a beginner. At this age group most quadcopters would be a good choice.

What A Beginner Drone Will Teach Your Child?

As mentioned before, flying drones is a great way to get your child outdoors. It can be a great hobby for them as it will keep them active.

They can catch some amazing camera shots and share with their friends. Once they start liking it, it can motivate them to try different locations, and they can learn a lot about the environment.

Drones can teach a lot about science too. It can teach about thrust, lift, drag etc. Drones are an excellent learning tool that will get students interested and involved in learning.

When Should I Get a More Advanced Drone for My Child?

For older children, who are well into their teens, a wider variety of drones are available. Drones are not that hard to fly once you get to know the procedures of flying.

An advanced drone like a typical quadcopter, should be piloted by a child of 14 and above. Children in this age group you are smart enough to learn about laws, rules, and regulations about drones, along with the basic motor skills, flying techniques, and safety requirements, which is always helpful

In this age group you are smart enough to learn about laws, rules and regulations about drones which is always helpful.

You have many good consumer and semi-professional drones which has a great speed, camera and can reach a high altitude.

Some Good Beginner Drone Choices:

So, you’re thinking of buying a good beginner drone for your child? Well, if that’s the case, here are some of the best beginner drone options available in the market now that you can check out and choose from.

Altair AA 108 Beginner Drone:

A great drone for beginners. It has 3 adjustable skills for flying. It has all the advanced features and comes with an extra battery for additional flight time.

The special feature is one touch take off and landing. Altair AA 108 is made of durable plastic and can withstand crashes.

Altair 818 Hornet Plus:

This drone is quite friendly for beginners because of its features like multiple speed modes and capability to hold attitude.

This drone is also good for videography and photography because of its stability and comes with long battery life. This is really a great drone for beginners to learn and up their skills.

Altair Falcon Drone:

The Falcon is a new installment in the series of Altair drones and it is one of the best beginner drones.

One of the reasons of its success among the beginner drone flying community is that it comes with two batteries, so you can fly it for as long as you want and learn more.

The other pretty fascinating feature is the AHP system that allows the drone to hover autonomously and position itself. It is small and compact and will be great for your child.

The Outlaw SE- Best Mid Range Drone:

Now this is a mid range drone with high power especially made for true drone enthusiastic.

A very affordable drone with all the top features like GPS mode, 1080p High Definition camera and a long battery life. It has follow-me mode, return to home mode and has a range up to 600 meters.

Here is a youtube video fromThe Tech Mag. Top five: Kids Drones

Conclusion:

Drone flying is an amazingly entertaining hobby and professional drone flying can also function as a source of good income.

My recommendation would be that you don’t buy a costly drone right-off-the-bat for your child because they might not be able to function it properly.

Ideally, you’re going to get a beginner-friendly drone that comes for a good price for your child and help them learn the basics and advance skills of drone flying. It will definitely be an amazing learning experience, and they’ll have a lot of fun flying.

Happy Flying!

Summary

Article Name

What Age Can Fly Drones? Parents Guide

Description

Drones are a nice gadget but for children it can be toy. So, we have to be careful in choosing drones for our children.

Author

Nick Cast

Publisher Name

Remoteflyer Private Limited.

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