The best kids' skis with bindings, from 70 cm up

Start with the question that saves the most money

A child outgrows skis on a roughly two-season clock, and often faster - a growth spurt can end a ski’s useful life mid-winter. That single fact drives everything else on this page, and it is why this site says the same thing every time: for a child skiing fewer than about ten days a year, a seasonal lease from a shop is usually the cheaper and better answer.

A lease swaps the gear when the child grows, includes the binding setup, and hands the whole problem back at the end of the season. The seasonal lease page runs that arithmetic properly, and what ski gear costs has the wider numbers.

Buying makes sense in three situations, and they are worth naming before you spend anything: a child who skis a lot of days, a household with a younger sibling who will inherit the skis, or a family far enough from a shop that leasing means two extra round trips a season. If one of those is you, the rest of this page is the comparison.

The four things worth comparing

Junior skis publish less than adult skis do, and most of what they publish is decoration. Four specifications actually change how the ski behaves under a child, and three of the four are about the binding rather than the ski.

Notice what is not on that list: graphics, weight, and the word “beginner.” Every ski here is a beginner ski. What separates them is how much the maker is willing to tell you.

Sizing, which is a band and not a number

Kids’ ski length works out at roughly 85 to 92 percent of standing height, which for most children lands the ski somewhere between the chin and the nose. Inside that band, weight decides: a light child takes the short end, because a ski they cannot bend will not turn.

The kids’ ski size chart has the arithmetic with worked examples, and it is worth doing before you look at any product - the length determines which of these packages is even available to you, since the short skis and the long skis come from different models.

The picks

Elan Maxx with EL 4.5 GW bindings

The pick, and it wins on published information. Elan states seven lengths - 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 and 130 cm - and a turn radius for each one, running from 2.5 m at 70 cm to 9.4 m at 130 cm. Nothing else in this category publishes that, and it is genuinely useful: radius is the number that tells you how tight a turn the ski wants to make, and a 2.5 m radius is a ski that will come around under a four-year-old who is barely weighting it.

The construction claim is also specific rather than vague. Elan publishes its patented U-Flex design as increasing the flex of the ski by 25 percent, which is aimed squarely at the real problem with children’s skis: a child is too light to bend a normally built ski, so the ski does not do what skis do.

The binding is the other reason it is first. The EL 4.5 GW is size-adjustable, so the same ski accepts a bigger boot next winter, and Elan publishes what it accepts: GripWalk, GripWalk Junior and alpine children’s soles. That is the compatibility question answered in advance - the boot sole standards page explains why it matters and what happens when it is not.

Honest cons: Elan does not publish a DIN range on the product page, which the Nordica binding does state. No warranty term is published. And each length is a separate Amazon listing at its own price, so the cheapest listing is not necessarily the length you need.

Nordica Team AM 70-90 cm with J4.5 FDT bindings

The pick for the smallest skiers, and the only package here whose binding publishes a release range: the J4.5 FDT at 0.75 to 4.5. That range is not trivia - it is the setting a shop dials against your child’s weight, height, age and boot sole length, and a binding whose bottom end is 0.75 is a binding that can actually be set light enough for a small child.

Nordica publishes the rest of the construction too, which is rare at this end of the market: a composite core, an on-piste rocker profile that lifts the tip and makes a short ski easier to steer, and the factory tune - a 0.9 degree base angle and an 87.5 degree side angle - so you know what you are starting from if you ever have them tuned.

Honest cons: no published turn radius per length, which the Elan states. Three lengths only, so a child moves out of this model and into the longer one rather than up the same run. No published warranty term, and the same per-length listing problem.

Nordica Team AM 100-140 cm with J4.5 FDT bindings

The same published construction and the same binding carried up into the lengths a school-age child actually needs. Five published lengths from 100 to 140 cm, the same stated 0.75-4.5 release range, the same on-piste rocker and factory angles.

The detail worth knowing is the plate: Nordica publishes FDT Jr RTL S on the 100 and 110 and RTL L from 120 up. That is the part that decides how much adjustment range a shop has when your child’s boot grows two sizes, which is the difference between moving a binding and buying a ski.

Honest cons: no published radius. At 140 cm you are at the top of junior sizing, where the next ski is an adult one, so this is the last ski in the line rather than a long-term platform. No published warranty term.

Rossignol Sender Kid skis with bindings

Here because it covers the same very small sizes - 70, 80 and 92 cm, bindings included - and because it is the package many families find first. It is the skip on this page, on two grounds that have nothing to do with quality.

It is the most expensive package here, and Rossignol publishes the least about it: no radius per length, no stated release range, three lengths. When the cheapest thing on the page publishes more than the most expensive thing, that is worth saying out loud.

And at this price, on a child who will outgrow it inside two seasons, the lease arithmetic at the top of this page becomes very hard to argue with. If you want skis at 70 cm, the Nordica publishes more for less.

The binding is the part you are actually buying

Every package on this page exists because mounting and setting a binding on a junior ski costs money and requires a shop, so makers sell the two together. What the package does not include is the setup, and that is not optional.

A ski binding is a release mechanism. The value it releases at is calculated from your child’s weight, height, age, ability and boot sole length, then tested on a calibrated machine. For children the setting is at the very bottom of the range - which is exactly why a published range starting at 0.75 matters - and it is the one part of a ski setup with real consequences if it is wrong.

• Take the skis and the boots to a shop together. The technician needs the boot to set forward pressure and the sole length, and to check the sole type.
• Expect to pay for it, and expect it to be quick. It is the cheapest safety-relevant thing you will buy all season.
• Have it re-checked when the boot changes. A new boot means a new sole length, which means the binding has to be moved and re-tested.
• Do not adjust it yourself. The DIN chart page explains what the number means and why the screwdriver in your garage is not the tool for it.

The per-length listing problem, and how to shop around it

Worth understanding before you click anything: adult skis are usually one listing with a length selector, and kids’ skis are not. Each length is sold as its own item, frequently at its own price, and often by different sellers.

Two consequences. First, the price you see on a 70 cm listing tells you nothing about the 100 cm - on this page the same Nordica model runs cheaper in the longer length than the shorter one. Second, availability is per length: the size your child needs may be out of stock while three other sizes are not, which is the single most common reason a family ends up buying the wrong length.

So: work out the length first from the size chart, then search for that length specifically, and treat the buy buttons on this page as the entry point to the model rather than the final price of your size. Every price shown here is live, and every one of them is for the specific listing named on the card.

Boots, which are not included and not optional

None of these packages includes boots, and boots are the item that decides whether a child enjoys the day. Two points specific to children.

Sole standard. Junior boots come in more than one sole type, and the binding has to accept it. Elan states that its EL 4.5 GW takes GripWalk, GripWalk Junior and alpine children’s soles; if you are pairing boots you already own with skis you are about to buy, check that before you order. The sole standards page has the compatibility table.

Fit. Not sized up, ever - a child whose foot slides inside an oversized boot cannot steer the ski and will have sore toes by lunchtime. The kids’ boot chart has the Mondopoint method, and the clothing size guide covers everything else that gets bought a size too big.

Poles, which are not urgent

None of these packages includes poles, and for a child under about six that is fine - beginners learn balance and edge control faster without them, and most ski schools start children poleless on purpose. Add them when the child is linking turns and asking for them, not before. The pole sizing chart has the length method when that day comes.

Who should buy what

• A family skiing a handful of days a year. A seasonal lease. This is the honest answer for most readers, and it is the one this site keeps giving.
• A child who skis a lot, with a sibling behind them. The Elan Maxx, for the seven-length run and the published radius - and because the next size up is the same ski.
• A three to six year old on their first skis. The Nordica Team AM 70-90, for the published release range.
• A school-age child starting to link turns. The Nordica Team AM 100-140.
• Anyone still deciding whether to buy at all. What to buy first puts skis where they belong in the order, which is last.