Looking for hiking shoes for my 2 year old daughter was a hot mess.
Most blogs talk about the best hiking boots for kids, not necessarily toddlers. Not all brands carry hiking boots for toddlers, and there is no great way to search for toddler shoes becuase of the lack of naming and sizing standards. Some brands have toddler shoes but label them as little kids shoes. When you do find a brand carrying toddler shoes you have to check the size range as they can vary between brands.
My daughter also needed a better every day shoe. At the age of 2, her everyday tennis shoes were falling apart every few months. She is either running around scraping the rubber sole away or jumping in mud leaving the shoe soaked the next day. The tennis shoes were difficult to clean and then dry and once the tread wore away she began to slip on rocks, leaves etc.
She needed better shoes for everyday use and hiking. In summary, the qualities we were looking for in a pair of shoes were:
- Easy to put on / No laces
- Durable
- Good Tread – won’t slip as much on leaves, rocks, water, etc
- Easy to clean
- Dry quickly
- Not too expensive
Bonus points for being:
- Waterproof
- Machine washable
How we decided on Merrell’s Little Kids Trail Quest Jr.
Before choosing the Merrell’s Little Kid Trail Quest Jr. we reviewed many popular options. Ultimately, the Merrell’s hit most of our requirements and at a great price point.
Keen – Toddler Chandler CNX
The key features of the shoe are it is constructed from a quick-dry mesh, has a rubber outer sole, lightweight, and fastens with velcro. The shoe air dries quickly, and there are comments describing that the shoe is easy to hose off for cleaning.
Sizes: Toddler sizes 4-7. Little Kid sizes 8-13
Price: Toddler Shoe Price 50$. Little Kid price $55
We do regularly wear Keens, however, we did not select this shoe for two reasons. First, it’s currently winter and the shoe doesn’t look warm. I was concerned that the quick dry mesh would be too cold for the winter months. Winters are not too cold in North Carolina, however it does regularly stay around freezing, and in the mountains it definitely does. I do think this would be a great shoes for the Spring, Summer and Fall in North Carolina, but not quite the winter. The second reason is the price, $50 is pushing our preferred budget. So our search continued.
See Kai Run – Sam Waterproof
See Kai Run does not fall under one of the typical hiking shoe brands. This a newer brand that strictly focuses on shoes for toddlers and kids for various activities, not just hiking. So I concentrated on the Sam Waterproof shoes, but See Kai Run have a few options that all have similiar features. The key features offered by this shoe are waterproof, comfortable, an inner fleece lining, a rubber outersole, fastens with velcro, high tops for ankle support. It also seems likes a rather sylish shoe with plenty of color options.
Sizes: Toddler Sizes 4-13
Price: $65
We did not pick this shoe for a few reasons. First, this does seem like a great shoe, but there was no information regarding how washable and maintainable it was. Unfortunately, my kids do need something that is easy to wash off, and dry. Secondly, we did not like the price point, 65 $ is really high. The website does talk aout the resale value of the shoes, but that didn’t really sway us.
So our search continued.
LL Bean – Toddlers Waterproof Trail Model Hikers
Key features of this shoe including high-tops, waterproof, rubber outer sole, good tread to handle trails, easy to put on. The material used in this shoe is the same as the adult version, a waterproof breathable mesh.
Sizes: 5-9
Price: $59
This shoe has very good reviews from families that live in rough outdoor conditions or are frequently outside. I was near tempted to get it, and with the comments from reviewers I wasn’t concerned at all with the quality to cost ratio. So all in all, this seems like a great toddler shoe, but we decided to go with the Merrell’s.
Merrell – Little Kid’s Trail Chaser Jr. Shoe
We chose the Merrell’s because this shoe hit a majority of our requirements, and was the lowest price point. These shoes are low tops, they do not look stylish, they do not fit in with her dresses, but none of those factors are requirements for us.
They do fasten with velcro, have great soles, easy to clean by hosing down, and dry quickly. Putatively we can even wash them with the laundry but we haven’t tried that. These shoes are not winter boots but they do look thicker than than the Keen, despite the quick dry mesh. Lastly, at a price of $40, that is really not breaking the bank at all.
Sizes: 5-10 / Width M or W
Price: $40
So far our daughter loves the shoes, the rubber soles gave her a lot of confidence on the trails as well because she wasn’t sliding all over the place. We didn’t realize how much this would make a difference but her confidence level and enjoyment of playing on the trail changed signficantly. Overall, she has been much more comfortable walking on on hikes and even on slopes going down to waterfalls. She wears the shoes to the park, jumps around in the mud, we’ll wipe them down, stick some papertowels in them and they will be ready by the afternoon for more playing. So far after 2 months of daily use, the shoes don’t look any different than when they first arrive, including no significant degradation in the rubber outersole, or the velcro. All in all for $40 we are not complaining.