Life
6 Kid-Friendly Alarm Clocks That'll Help Build A Good Morning Routine
A good night's sleep is essential for children, but it's also important for you and everyone in your home. The best alarm clocks for kids help them maintain a better sleep routine, which means better sleep for everyone. Both you and your kids will love these cute clocks.
Most of the picks in this list offer much more than a clock — such as nightlights, smart connectivity, and white noise functions to help your little one fall asleep. One brilliant feature to look out for is a time-to-rise setting, which a few of picks below feature, helps establish bedtime and morning routines, without the need for your child to be able to read a clock; the colors indicate when to stay in bed to sleep and when it's okay to wake up.
If your child is ready to learn to tell time from an analog clock, there's a pick for that, too. Have an older kid who won't get out of bed? There's a runaway robot-clock to help with that.
With any alarm clock, the more customizable the better, since you can program it for custom routines with alarms, light brightness, color, and/or sound options to signal bedtime, wake time, or nap time. Of course, more options can mean more money, but don't worry there is a great option under $30 that finds common ground between features and affordability.
Keep scrolling for the best kid's alarm clocks.
1The Best Overall Alarm Clock That Grows With Your Child From Infancy To Toddlerhood
The Hatch Baby Rest is a highly rated pick with more than 2,000 reviews that combines an alarm clock, sound machine, nightlight, "time-to-rise alert," and nap timer in one device. Parents love that this pick grows with their children and allows them to adjust settings from their phone. For infants, it provides gentle light, great for overnight feeding sessions, and later, a nightlight that can provide comfort in the dark. The show-stopping feature is that the time-to-rise setting uses color to let your child know when it's time to wake up, which also helps keep toddlers in bed past 6 a.m.
With adjustable sound, volume, color, and brightness, this clock has the widest range of customization. Choose from 11 sound options, including lullabies, nature sounds, and several white noise selections. For the light, you get to choose from any color in the rainbow or create a custom color. The device is easily programmable for daily routines via Bluetooth on Hatch's free app, and you can quickly rotate through routines by tapping at the top of the device. A toddler lock and buttons on the device's base keep curious kids from messing with the routines.
While this pick doesn't have a battery backup, the app ensures none of your customized settings, colors, or sounds get lost if this device loses power. This modern alarm clock plugs into the wall and fits into any nursery or room decor with its minimal design; for added flair, patterned coverlets are also available.
Fans say: "I am not exaggerating when I say this is the best baby product I've ever bought. I have a 2 year old who refuses to sleep through the night. [...] She wasn't sleeping, we weren't sleeping. NO ONE WAS SLEEPING. I'd heard good things about the Hatch, and bought it out of desperation. We tried everything before throwing money at the issue and even the cheaper ok to wake clock was garbage compared to Hatch. Hatch has changed our lives."
2The Best Budget Alarm Clock For Kids
With this alarm clock's precious dog design, your kid will love having a canine companion and alarm clock in one. This pick is highly rated and features the coveted time-to-rise sleep training feature in the ball the dog is holding; red indicates your child should stay in bed and green gives them okay to get out of bed. The brightness of this light can also be adjusted with five different settings.
This highly-rated clock also has the ability to set weekday and weekend alarms, a nap timer, and a parental compartment so little ones can't fuss with the settings. Plus, you can be sure you won't lose those precious settings with the built-in back up battery in case your clock loses power. The digital clock's background also lights up in case you need to check the time, or for when your child has learned to tell time.
Fans say: "This has been so helpful for us and the sleep issues we were having with our 3.5 year old. Our main issue was our daughter waking up extremely early and coming into our bedroom and refusing go back to her room. She now stays in her room until puppies light turns green! We like the different settings and use two different settings for the weekdays and weekends so we can get some extra sleep. We also have her trained to use the toilet herself in the morning so she will do so and then go back to bed until the light turns green! It worked the first night we used it and has worked every day since! We also notice she has had less accidents in her pull ups since using this system! Highly recommend!"
3The Best Toddler Alarm Clock To Help With Sleep Training
The LittleHippo alarm clock is a best-seller designed to keep your kid in bed longer. Changing facial expressions and bright colors on the clock's face help young children (who can't yet tell time) with settings signaling bedtime, when it's almost time to wake, and when it's okay to wake up. Parents love that it's easy for kids to follow; plus, the clock is highly rated with more than 2,000 reviews.
This pick also functions as a nap timer, noise machine, with three settings: white noise, ocean, or lullaby, and a nightlight with five color options (white, amber, blue, purple and a blue/green combination). For the alarm sound, you also get to choose from a standard beep and gentler sounds, like a forest option. All of these settings are controllable with a simple button system on the device's base. For even more customization, you can also choose from four colors for the clock's feet: blue, pink, purple, or teal.
The clock comes with a toddler lock and plugs into standard or USB outlets; a battery backup preserves memory settings so you don't have to reset routines if the device gets unplugged or you lose power. Plus, its super cute interface would be darling in any child's bedroom.
Fans say: "I [was hesitant] to spend $50 on a clock but my two year old now sleeps until 7 as opposed to 5:30. Worth every penny. He’s actually easier to put to bed now too if we tell him Mella is going to be asleep soon. We’re in love and she’s really cute."
4The Best Smart Alarm Clock That Connects To Alexa
If you're looking for a smart sleep trainer for kids that connects to Amazon's Alexa, this extra cute bunny-eared clock is it. The VOBOT Alarm Clock for Kids uses built-in Alexa to enable this clock to tell your child a story, play music, answer questions, and more. The clock also functions as a nightlight and a sound machine, though it's unclear how many or which sounds it includes.
Color, brightness, sound, and volume can be customized, and parents can set times signaling children to stay, play, and wake. Like this list's best toddler alarm clock, this pick uses facial expressions to help communicate sleep training, but has the added benefit of my first pick in being able to update this clock remotely via smartphone with the downloadable VOBOT app (or on the clock itself). The clock plugs into the wall and will need WiFi for the built-in Alexa function. Choose from a blue or pink base.
Fans say: "We're trying to train our toddler on when to wake up in the morning because he was getting up too early. He's slowly starting to figure it out because of this clock. [...] We have Alexa play song songs in the morning and it just starts our morning out happier. When the sleep alarm is activated, Alexa doesn't work (which is great, so he's not activating her all night long)."
5The Best Alarm Clock For Getting Kids Out Of Bed
For kids who won't get out of bed on time for school, try this loud alarm clock on wheels to make sure they're up and out the door on time. This battery-operated clock has a digital face that lights up for easy use in the dark, but isn't a full-on nightlight as it doesn't stay on all night; so this pick may be better for slightly older kids.
Clocky looks and sounds like a robot and is very loud to rouse heavy sleepers; it runs and rolls away without having to turn on the wheels, on both wood and carpet, leaping up to 3 feet high to ensure heavy sleepers get out of bed to turn off the alarm. As for settings, there's an optional one-time snooze feature you can set for one to eight minutes.
Clocky's inventor is an MIT alum who was featured on Shark Tank. The clock has been noted by several news outlets, including Good Morning America, Ellen, The New York Times, and the Today show. Choose from black, blue, chrome, pink, or white. For more than one person in your household who struggles with waking up, throw the two-pack of Clocky's in your cart!
Fans say: "Clocky has been a life saver. My 17 year old son was impossible to wake up. Previously took 45 minutes of calling and shaking him. Clocky has him up and moving before I have to call him!! Love this! Highly recommend for heavy sleepers!"
6The Alarm Clock That Teaches Kids Time
The only clock on this list with both an analog and digital display helps kids learn how to tell time with changing lights and an easy-to-read clock face as they get older. This toddler alarm clock lights up in five colors with specific activities in mind: blue indicates bedtime, yellow indicates wake time, cyan indicates nap time, green indicates fun time, and red indicates thinking time or time out. These are all programmable for set times and routines with buttons hidden behind the face panel.
The clock also plays bedtime stories, lullabies, music, and white noise. A nightlight and weekend wake time options are also programmable. The clock comes with a moon and stars face plate, but other themes are available for purchase to truly customize this clock to your child, including familiar cartoon characters, a butterfly design, an under the sea theme, a barnyard design, and more.
Fans say: "The primary reason we wanted a clock is to help our toddler stay in bed in the mornings. We bought two options and are keeping this one. We like that it is more of an educational tool for our toddler since it tells time...The battery back-up was essential for us given our son will likely figure out how to unplug it, and also makes it portable."
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