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01The first bag, and the one after it

abshoo kids' backpacks

Nine backpacks for children between about two and eight, from an 11.8-inch preschool pack to a 15.5-inch elementary bag, most of them with a chest strap and every one in water-resistant polyester.

  • 9 bags
  • 31 colourways
  • $19.99–$35.99 at our last update

abshoo backpack

A small child does not need a small version of a school bag; they need a bag that stops at the waist and does not swing. That is why the three sizes on this shelf are 11.8, 14.2 and 15.5 inches tall rather than one bag in three colours, and why five of the nine carry a chest strap across the front. The American Academy of Pediatrics puts the ceiling for a packed school bag at fifteen per cent of a child's body weight, which for a forty-pound five-year-old is six pounds: a lunch box, a water bottle and a folder, and not much else. Bigger is not better here, and the Academy says so plainly: a roomier bag gets filled. Choose by the inches and the strap, then let the child choose the dinosaur.

029 bags

Every abshoo backpack on this shelf

Toddler backpack

abshoo Kindergarten Backpack

  • 14.2" × 10.6" × 5.3"
  • Ages 2–6
  • Water-resistant fabric

4.7 · 220 ratings

from $23.99

Toddler backpack

abshoo Mini Toddler Backpack

  • 15.5" × 11.8" × 5.3"
  • Ages 4–8
  • Water-resistant fabric

4.8 · 99 ratings

from $19.99

Kindergarten backpack

abshoo Little Girls' Backpack

  • 15.5" × 11.8" × 5.3"
  • Ages 4–8
  • Water-resistant fabric

4.9 · 73 ratings

from $21.99

Prices are the ones from our last update; the abshoo approach updates them on a schedule, and the figure at the till is the one that counts.

03Before you order

Questions about abshoo kids' backpacks

How much a small child should be carrying, what the chest strap is for, and how to tell a bag that is too big from a bag that will last two years.

How do you stop an abshoo kids' backpack sliding off small shoulders?

Do up the chest strap, which five of the nine bags on this shelf have. It is a webbing band with a clip between the two shoulder straps, and it holds them in the position you set them to. Without it a loaded pack pulls outwards and downwards on narrow shoulders and ends up carried on one arm.

Which abshoo backpack should you buy for a child starting kindergarten?

The 14.2-inch pack, which measures 14.2 by 10.6 by 5.3 inches. It takes a lunch box lying flat, a folder and a water bottle, and it stops at the waist on a five-year-old rather than hanging below it. The 11.8-inch preschool bag is a size down from that and the 15.5-inch elementary size is a size up.

Are abshoo kids' backpacks big enough for a lunch box?

From 14.2 inches upward, yes, lying flat in the main compartment with room above it. The 11.8-inch preschool pack takes a small container rather than a rigid lunch box, and that is the reason the matching insulated lunch bags on this site are soft-sided.

Every abshoo height, every colour

Every size, print and colourway in the abshoo collection sits behind this button, with the price from our last update against each one.