Kids' & Youth Hiking Backpacks: Complete Guide

Size a kids' backpack the same way you size an adult one: measure torso length from the C7 vertebra at the base of the neck to the iliac crest at the top of the hip bones, then match that number to the brand's kids'-specific size chart instead of guessing from age or height alone.

Height and age predict torso length poorly, since two eight-year-olds can differ by several inches in torso length even at similar heights. Kids' torso lengths commonly run from about 11 to 16 inches, versus roughly 16 to 22 inches for most adults, which is why adult packs sized down rarely fit a child correctly even at the smallest adjustment setting.

Hipbelt fit matters as much as torso length on any kids' pack built with a real frame: the belt should sit over the hip bones, not the waist, so it can carry its share of the load the same way an adult hipbelt does.

Children should generally carry less than the roughly 20%-of-bodyweight guideline used for adult hikers, with many outdoor-education programs recommending closer to 10-15% of body weight for younger kids and up to about 15-20% for capable teens.

These figures are guidelines, not hard limits — a child's fitness, hiking experience and the trip's terrain all shift the safe number up or down. A hipbelt still does most of the work on any framed kids' pack carrying real weight, transferring roughly 80% of the load the same way it does on an adult pack, so a beltless daypack should stay light regardless of the child's age.

Most kids can start carrying a very light daypack of their own around age 4 to 6, holding water and a comfort item, then take on a real share of the group's gear — snacks, a layer, a water bottle — by roughly age 7 to 10 once they can manage buckles and zippers independently.

Toddlers and preschoolers typically aren't carrying their own pack at all; they ride in a child-carrier backpack on a parent's back instead, which is a separate category built around the adult's fit and the child's safety harness rather than the child's own torso. Once a kid transitions from riding to walking full trips, a light daypack under a few liters is the natural first step, followed by a bigger kids' daypack as they take on more of their own gear.

By the early-to-mid teen years, many kids are ready for a genuine overnight backpacking pack and a real share of shared group gear — tent poles, part of the food bag, a share of cooking gear — provided the pack fits their torso length and the load stays within a safe percentage of their body weight. That transition is gradual and depends far more on a teen's fitness, hiking mileage and pack fit than on a birthday.

Youth packs that grow use an adjustable-torso suspension — the same ladder-lock strap system found on adult adjustable packs, scaled down — so one pack can fit a child across multiple growth seasons instead of being outgrown in a single year.

Real examples include the Osprey Ace series, Gregory's Wander series and Deuter's Fox and Junior lines, all built specifically for kids and teens with shorter torso ranges, lighter frames and simplified hipbelts scaled to a child's build rather than a shrunk adult design. REI Co-op's Tarn and Trail Kids models cover the daypack end of the same idea for younger hikers who don't yet need an overnight pack.

An adjustable youth suspension typically covers several inches of torso growth, which can mean two to three years of use for a fast-growing kid before a full resize to a bigger pack becomes necessary — see how to size a kids' backpack for the measuring method to check when that point has arrived. Parents comparing the daypack side of this category against the buying criteria for a first kids' pack, or the bigger overnight packs a teen eventually graduates into, should treat torso fit and load percentage as the two numbers that matter most, well ahead of color, character branding or brand name.