You want your kids to get out more, and you also want to see them interested in science. Choosing a great drone for them to fly can help accomplish both goals at the same time. They’ll certainly have good reason to go out, and since doing anything more with a drone than flying it in simple circles requires some understanding of the physics of flight, they’ll begin reading.

If it does make sense to you that your children should have a drone (experts recommend a minimum age of between 8 and 10), here’s how to choose the right one.

Buy something simple and cheap at first

If it’s your kids’ first time with a drone, mistakes will be made. Your kids will want to stick a finger in the rotor to see what happens, they’ll want to see if they can pass a drone right through the open windows of a car or house, and you can bet that at some point, they will want to see how it flies in rain in snow, or better still, swim in water. Kids even attempt to load their drones with fireworks to drop about as if they were bombers.

It’s a natural part of what kids do, and so, the very first drone that you get for your kids should be a cheap, disposable model that lets them get all their crazy moves out of their system. Not only will you not mind losing a $100 contraption too much, the power to the rotors is likely to be so feeble, your kid could stick a finger in there without hurting himself. Then, once the machine breaks, you can move on to the second, more capable and more expensive one.

Look for plastic

Low-end models tend to be made of ABS plastic. The higher up the scale you go, the more heavy-duty the materials — glass fiber, carbon fiber, metal and so on.

It’s important to look for a slow model, one made of lightweight ABS plastic. If you can find something that offers the slow yaw rate, it offers the greatest level of control. Plastic also comes with the advantage of durability. Your kid could crash the craft multiple times before causing any damage to the unit.

Camera drones are more fun

If you’re going to get drones for kids, you might as well models with an onboard camera. Not only can it be endless fun, it can be a great way to help your kids’ imagination, as they see themselves flying with the drone, in their minds’ eye.

Remember that a drone is more than a toy. It’s something that can expand a child’s horizons. Flying one can help a child imagine a future not only in aviation but in a number of other fields as well — cinematography, wildlife photography or even racing. Drone racing is a recognized field now, with events awarding participants thousands of dollars.