Article Credit by Family Fun Twin Cities  

Family Fun Twin Cities was recently asked by Simply Kids Safety Gear to review some of their products. My two younger children are working on learning to bike, skate board and scooter, so the timing was great for us. In particular, my 8-year-old had requested some knee pads that weren’t pink. Hand-me-downs are not always easy for boys with older sisters. He was excited when two sets arrived Ocean Camo and a red and black set (pictured but apparently not currently available, sorry). Not to be left out, my five-year-old, who had taken a hard scooter spill a few days earlier, was thrilled when a Unicorn set arrived a couple days later.

The unicorn design also features bunnies.

What We Like About Simply Kids Safety Gear

So, what sets Simply Kids Safety Gear apart from similar knee and elbow pads? Mainly, that my kids will put them on and keep them on. We particularly liked these 5 features:

1. The designs are cute and appealing to kids. For the first few days after they arrived I couldn’t get my five-year-old to take off the gear. She even wanted to sleep in the gloves. Having something that they want to wear is half the battle in getting kids to use safety gear at all.
2. The pads are comfortable. Rather than hard shells, the pads offer three layers of soft padding, so the kids don’t mind wearing them for extended periods of time.
3. The gear does not irritate my kids’ sensitive skin. The material is made out of Neoprene — like a wet suit — making the gear both flexible and breathable. It also makes it possible to cover more of the arms and legs than the typical pads.
4. My children don’t need help getting these on. This is probably my top selling point. This are really easy to put on and take off. They don’t require special fitting and I don’t have to help with them. Our other pair usually required some help from a grown up to get on.
5. The gloves are genius. I’ve honestly never considered biking gloves for kids, but they are wonderful for learning anything that may result in a tumble. No more scraped palms from a scooter tumble. We’ve appreciated the gloves more than once already.

Again, all of these positives add up to my kids actually putting on the gear and getting outside, which furthers my summer goal to get them out and active, but keep them relatively safe.

What We Miss In Simply Kids Safety Gear

Simply Kids does not offer helmets and admittedly matching helmets would be a plus. However, we already had our head gear, so this was not a big deal to us as far as need. If you are in the market for both helmet and pads, there are sets available from other companies that contain both. I have not found any set that included everything – elbow & knee pads, helmet and gloves. For me, as we already had helmets, the gloves turned out to be a more important feature.

Will They Hold Up to a Summer of Fun?

That remains to be seen. We’re going to put them to the test this summer and I will update. Most of the reviews on Amazon are positive, but the negative reviewer was worried that the light-weight material would not take too many falls. Price-wise, Simply Kids Safety Gear is on par with the higher quality gear. (You could go a lot cheaper, but I question the wisdom of cutting corners on safety gear.) If it lasts a full summer, I believe it would be worth the investment.