I'm going to have to really disagree with Et, Justin and Dan on this one. I firmly believe that children SHOULD have kayaks that fit them if they are to grow into the sport. I see kids floundering around in overly big adult kayaks (and the paddles that go with them). The kids seem to have fun... for a bit. Because the mechanics are so poor for their bodies, after paddle-dipping for a few minutes they soon get tired, give up and next thing their swimming with their friends. Traditionally native Inuit paddlers started their children paddling at an early age with kayaks and paddle made for their body size.

Compare that to my oldest daughter, who is going to be 10 this winter. I built her first kayak when she was 2. It was 8' long and 18" wide and had little outriggers. She played with it for 3 summers. Her latest kayak is now almost 4 years ago. It's 12' long and 16" wide. The design is basically a scaled down adult sea kayak. It has great speed and handling. This was it's last summer as she has just about outgrown it. She regularly goes with us on 3-5 mile paddles. Her cruising speed is about the same as mine. We had a beachfront site this summer and regularly asked to go out for paddles to see the loons, herons and other wildlife.

A full strip kayak seems a bit of a waste because kids grow so fast, so I build SOFs for them. I size them so that they get about 3-5 years of use before they outgrow them. I can build them a fuselage-framed SOF in about 25 hours and usually costs less than $120. For paddles I carve them simple Greenland-style paddles from cedar. They get a new paddle about every other year (or as they lose them).

My daughter wants to build her "real," hard shell kayak this winter. We're going to put together a S&G Alleq 52 sea kayak, modified slightly to reduce the volume. It should last her a minimum of 5 years. By the time she's in her mid-teens she'll either need a new one due to size or will need something with more performance.