Best Telescopes For Kids

The best telescopes for kids let you see the Moon and planets and inspire young minds. That’s right; telescopes inspire kids and teens to shoot for the stars. In addition, engaging kids in a love of the night sky encourages creativity and instills scientific curiosity.

Plus, hanging out in your backyard for a night of stargazing and hot chocolate provides memories of a lifetime. So the best telescopes for kids inspire, encourage learning, and create memories. Those are excellent reasons for checking out these selections.

Overall Best Telescope For Kids: Gskyer Telescope 70mm 

The 70mm aperture, 400mm focal length, and f/5.7 focal ratio on the Gskyer 70mm refractor telescope give it enough viewing power to see Moon details. Moreover, it is an excellent scope for its price, as shown by its 26,000+ Amazon reviews with an average 4.5-star rating.

The 5.72-pound Gskyer telescope has a wireless remote and phone adapter to observe the night sky and take basic smartphone pictures. Use the cross-hair lines shown on your phone app to locate and hone in on sky objects. That’s a definite plus for parents helping children navigate the stars since you’ll both be able to see where the telescope is pointing.

Best Budget Telescope for Kids: ToyerBee 70mm

ToyerBee’s 70mm aperture, 300mm focal length, and f/4.3 focal ratio refractor telescope has a great price and works well for beginners. Like other scopes on this list of best telescopes for kids, ToyerBee is lightweight (3.91 lbs) and easy to set up.

Parents need to help align their smartphones to the telescope’s eyepiece as it proves difficult for younger kids. However, teens should have no issues setting it up. The finder scope helps you roughly locate a sky object before moving to the eyepiece/smartphone for zeroing in to explore the night skies. 

Best Optics: Celestron – PowerSeeker 114EQ Telescope

Celestron’s PowerSeeker 114EQ Telescope has a large 114mm aperture, allowing more light than other scopes. In addition, this scope is robust, with a 900mm focal length and a midrange focal ratio of f/8. That makes it great for viewing planets or stars.

Older kids and teens can find nearby planets with the manual equatorial mount. The slow-motion altitude rod helps you reach position before securing it by tightening the cross knob. 

The PowerSeeker is a good telescope for older children and teens with its excellent optics. It will inspire curious imaginations to explore the skies and learn about astronomy.

Best for Night & Day: ABOTEC Telescope for Kids

Abotech makes an affordable telescope for kids with its 80mm aperture, 500mm focal length, and fully-coated glass optics lens. The coating helps increase brightness without a blurry haze. So your child will see clear views of the Moon and stars. 

A phone adaptor modification makes it more stable for simple photo-taking without as much movement. For a first child’s first telescope, this is a solid selection. The setup is easy, and there is no maintenance. 

Use it during the day to view mountains and wildlife or see your friends setting up viewing targets across the street. Kids will appreciate the versatility this telescope offers.

Best Telescope Kit: HEXEUM 80mm

HEXEUM’s lightweight 80mm refractor telescope kit has everything you need for stargazing. The focal length is 600mm with a ratio of f/6.7 great for the moon and nearby planets.

This telescope has everything you need to observe the night skies. Similar items come with each scope in our list of the best telescopes for kids. So let’s take a look at what’s in the kit.

• Carry Bag
• Aluminum Alloy Tripod
• Telescope Tube
• Finder Scope
• Zenith Mirror
• 2 Eyepieces (10mm, 25mm)
• Barlow Lens (3x)
• Phone Attachment and Blutooth Remote
• Accessory Tray
• User Manual

This telescope is easy to set up and use quickly, so you’ll be sky-viewing before your hot chocolate gets cold. In addition, this telescope lets you see the Moon’s craters and take smartphone pictures of what you’re viewing. The HEXEUM 80mm is a good beginner telescope for children and teens. It will inspire curious imaginations to explore the skies and learn about astronomy.

Best Easy-Use: MaxUSee 70mm Telescope

The MaxUSee 70mm refractor scope is easy to use and assemble. It comes with an excellent price for a beginner astronomer telescope. You can see the Moon’s craters, but maintaining a viewing position is a little tricky. So adults may need to help children readjust positioning. 

Use the diagonal mirror when viewing the Moon to reduce some of the reflected glare from its brightness. You’ll get a more precise and detailed view without the glare. Then during the day, use the 1.5x erecting eyepiece to view landscapes without them being upside down.

Best Moon Views: Discover with Dr. Cool NASA Lunar Telescope

This moon-viewing telescope for kids excites a new generation of astronauts. The full-color learning guide teaches them all about telescopes and includes cool science facts about the moon. This scope does a great job of inspiring kids to become NASA scientists.

The tabletop tripod lets you set up the telescope indoors when the weather is too cool for young ones to enjoy moon exploration outdoors. It also provides stability since children won’t easily bump into it. 

Seeing the moon’s craters is exciting, and this scope makes a perfect gift for budding astronomers and STEM students. 

Best Portable: Celestron 70mm Travel Scope

Celestron’s 70mm Travel Scope is a solid choice for a portable refractor telescope. The tripod, telescope, and accessories break down to fit into a small backpack and quickly reassemble once you’ve reached your viewing site. This telescope travels to your family campsite, then sets up quickly.

Celestron’s Travel Scope has a high-quality objective lens, so two of their scopes made the list of best telescopes for kids. The Celestron’s 70mm Travel Scope works well for astronomer families who want to take their telescope on sky-viewing trips or use it in their backyards.

Conclusion

Choose one of these best telescopes for kids to inspire your future astronaut or astronomer. 

Teach kids to use star charts and phone apps to locate sky objects, then point the lens in the right direction. Zoom in to see the moon’s clarity and get great views of stars and the brightest planets. Star gazing unlocks the mysteries of the universe, so choose your telescope now.

If you are looking for a list of recommendations for telescopes that are a little more advanced than these kids telescopes, check out our Beginners Guide to Telescopes.