Credit:
Reviewed / Tim Renzi
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Credit:
Reviewed / Tim Renzi
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This well-priced board is legit enough that even adults may want to try it out. Read More
This genius starter board gives kids everything they need to learn to skate in this confidence-boosting design. Read More
Premium wood and wheels make the Magneto Pintail our favorite longboard skateboard for beginners. Read More
A cooler-looking banana board that comes with respectable wheels and bearings and other kid-friendly extras. Read More
We wanted to love this board, but it was one of the hardest to ride of all we tried. Read More
Kid skateboards can be hard to shop for. They come in a dizzying array of shapes, sizes, styles, and price points. Wide and short? Wide and long? Plastic or wood? Do you buy something cheap in case your kid doesn’t stick with it, or do you invest in a high-quality board to facilitate the learning process? Is it possible to find the best beginner skateboard for kids that’s both high quality and comes at an affordable price?
Of all the boards we tested, the Beleev 27-inch Complete Skateboard for Beginners (available at Amazon) rises to the top of the list as the Best Skateboard for Beginners for the quality of its design and materials. Also ranking high is our choice for the Best Board for Little Kids, the Ookkie Kids’ Learner Board (available at Amazon), an ingenious beginner skateboard that offers the best mix of stability, safety, customizability. The Magneto Hana Pintail Longboard (available at Amazon) won for the Best Longboard Skateboard for it's excellent deck and premium wheels.
The Beleev will take kids from beginner onward.
The Ookie is part skateboard, part scooter, and part push-toy—and is our ultimate recommendation for kids 3 to 6 years old.
Our testers loved the smooth ride of the Magneto Hana Short Pintail Longboard skateboard and dubbed it a perfect longboard for kids starting out.
Fun galaxy design
High-quality wheels and bearings
Board lacks contour and grip for beginners
Can be slippery in wet conditions
Rolls well
Great handles for carrying
Too short a tail
Hard to balance
Cute and colorful designs
Adorable mini size
Deck is too small, even for a four-year-old
Hard, cheap wheels
Bearings don't move
Gorgeous designs with positive messages
Nice grip tape
Made from solid wood
Hard wheels that don't function properly
Flat deck
Hi, I’m Aaron Gilbreath. I started skating in fifth grade. Although I never surpassed a mediocre level doing street tricks, I excelled at skating sloped surfaces like pools and concrete banks. At age 46, I have over 35 years of skating under my belt.
Over the years I’ve developed opinions about which skateboard features help me improve, and which don’t matter as much as a rider’s determination. I’m not hung up on gear or appearances: I ride big beat-up boards wearing beat-up shoes, so fancy equipment doesn’t make or break my sessions. But I do insist on having bearings that propel me, grip tape that holds my feet, and a tail that lets me stop and steer.
It’s hard to know where to start and it’s especially hard to shop for young riders if you don’t skate yourself. My 4-year-old daughter and I spent three weeks testing eight kid-focused beginner skateboards to find the most important features that will make learning to skate easier, safer, and more fun.
While I’ve learned that equipment isn’t everything and that learning depends primarily on practice and will, gear will influence a beginner’s experience, especially before they develop their own force of will and pain tolerance.
Also testing was our friend Dan Wistrom, who has been skating for about 40 years and—more recently—has been skateboarding with his 9-year-old son. Wistrom and his son tested the Magneto boards, which were later added to this list.
We tested these boards through a three-fold process.
First, I skated each board by myself, as an experienced rider. I skated downhill and on flat streets and sidewalks of varying textures in both light rain and dry conditions. That gave me a sense of each board’s features, construction, and quality, how those affected my subjective experience riding it and how I imagined a kid would ride it.
Next my 4-year-old daughter skated each board with me over the course of a few sessions. She’s inexperienced and uncomfortable on skateboards, so I held her hand on every board but the Ookkie.
I noted which boards gave her a fun experience and which boards caused frustration, due to their design and construction. When she got bored, we did another session the following day.
Finally, I ranked the boards on a spreadsheet, according to numerical rankings based on features.
Shopping for equipment that you don’t have experience with is, understandably, difficult. Our best advice is to rely on experts, ask questions, and look beyond the painted skulls and rainbows to focus on the features that matter. While board shopping, it helps to know skateboards’ basic parts.
And remember: Beginners will eventually get hurt, so spend money on safety pads and a helmet, and always wear them. I do.
The deck is the part of the board you skate on. There are many different deck sizes and shapes. The deck’s front is called the nose. The back is the tail. You use the tail to ollie and do other tricks. And you use the pocket, where the tail and the flat board meet, to nest your foot to control your board.
The surface of your deck should provide traction. The best way to do that is to either buy a board that has a rough, textured surface or apply grip tape to reduce slippage. Many plastic decks include plastic cross-hatching to provide a textured grippy surface. That works for basic dry weather riding, but grip tape is necessary for all-weather riding.
Given the choice, many skaters advise you get a concave deck with a tail and grip tape. It will give your kid the right sort of surface area and structure to improve their balance and confidence, and eventually let them rip.
Good wheels and wheel equipment will make for a smoother ride. You want to look for softer wheels, ideally made from polyurethane. Soft wheels allow you to move with ease and not absorb all of the bumps and gravel in the road,
The wheels attach to the deck with metal pieces called skateboard trucks. Trucks’ tightness determines how stiff or wobbly the board is, and how wide a berth the rider can cut by simply leaning.
Trucks are easily tightened with a tool called a skate key. Some kid’s boards come with skate keys, though most don’t. Inside the wheels are bearings, which help the board roll—or slow its roll if they’re cheap or rusted shut.
Prices in this set range from $25 to $139, but the top-ranked beginner boards range from $43 to $139, and they’re worth it. You should be able to find a board for under $70 that has quality features and materials. The three least expensive boards in this list are also our last picks and, arguably, the least safe. It’s worth paying a bit more money in the long run to get a fun board that will encourage your kid to practice and ride.
On the flip side, don’t spend more than $80 on a beginner skateboard. Spend that on a standard, full-length board for a serious skater. The Ookkie costs $139, but you can think of it as two or three boards in one because you modify it as your kid advances.
Skateboarding is inherently risky. While some injuries are all part of the process, remember to invest in a good skateboarding-specific helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards. Do not attempt to skate without them.
Janelle Randazza is a writer/mother hybrid and taco enthusiast based out of Los Angeles, California.
Aaron Gilbreath
Contributor
Aaron Gilbreath has written for Harper's, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, Kenyon Review, and The Dublin Review, and is the author of three books, most recently, The Heart of California: Exploring the San Joaquin Valley. His work has been nominated for a James Beard Award, nominated for the Oregon Book Award, and named a notable in Best American Essays, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Sports Writing. Check out his serialized book about the overlooked cult classic album from the 1990s, Deconstruction.
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