Camera for child?

[Raphne]

My daughter is about to turn 6 (!!!) and we're thinking about getting her her own camera. She is FOREVER stealing mine out of my purse, stealing our iphones to use the cameras, saying she wants to play games on the ipod and then taking pictures with it instead. We got her brother a "kids" toy camera a few years ago; she has very little interest in this, I think because the LED display is so small and the image quality is so poor. I'm hoping some of you may have some suggestions for either an inexpensive subcompact, or a durable sports-type model so it can be impact resistant for the inevitable drops) that takes reasonably nice photos, so we can use it as a back up family camera too! Any ideas?

[StacieMac]

I bought my 4 year old daughter a Kodak Easy Share last month and she absolutely loves it. It is super simple to use (I set everything up before I gave it to her and now all she has to do is turn it on and start clicking), takes very clear pictures, and is bright purple, which makes her want to use it more. I had looked into the "kid" digital cameras, but everything I read said that the picture quality was terrible. So I spent a few dollars more and got her the real thing. It is as fragile as any other consumer grade point-and-shoot, but I've been using that as an opportunity to teach her about being careful and taking care of her things.

[idtwinmom]

I look forward to what everyone says here. We have talked about cameras for my three this year. I am interested in models that might have manual settings available so they can grow into them.