Can Six-Year-Olds Kayak?

Kayaking six-year-old Imogen paddling 4-year-old Hudson on a lily-finding adventure

Almost all 6-year-old children are able and ready to paddle a child-sized kayak on calm bodies of water.  Six-year-old children can also enjoy kayaking in the following ways:

• practicing paddling a small kayak in a pool 
• being towed  by a parent while paddling a child-sized kayak while they practice their paddling 
• riding duffer (middle of the boat as a non-paddling passenger) in a tandem kayak
• assisting as the bow paddler (front of kayak) with an adult on a tandem sit-inside kayak
• assisting with paddling on a sit-on-top kayak with siblings or parents

​ Six years old is a great age to begin paddling a small kayak

Here is what my experience having many kids try out kayaking on our river the past few years has taught me about starting kids on the little kid kayaks:

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