// WIRED US/UK — HARDWARE & GADGET
The Best Kids’ Backpacks for the 2026 School Year
As an adult gear tester, I have one major problem with looking for the best kids’ backpacks: Ultimately, the decision is not up to me. My 8-year-old and 10-year-old are the ones who have to carry their backpacks to school, camp, and beyond. The bag has to protect iPads and Chromebooks; fit lunch boxes and water bottles; and endure getting kicked around cars, bikes, and school gyms. Most importantly, it has to be comfortable. Less important but still crucial, it has to be a good fashion accessory. And you have to be able to find it quickly when you hang it on a hook next to 50 virtually identical backpacks.
To find the best kids’ backpacks, children of WIRED’s Reviews team tested the following for weeks, if not years, by stuffing them into lockers and under plane seats. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our parenting coverage, which includes the Best Laptops for College Students, the Best Paper Planners, and the Best Subscription Boxes for Kids.
Updated August 2026: I’ve added new backpacks from The North Face, Simple Modern, Kindred Bravely, and Go Ruck, and ensured up-to-date links and prices.
Love WIRED? Add us as a preferred source on Google to see more of us.
My parents bought me a new JanSport backpack every fall, but I’ve taken a different approach with my daughter. She got three years out of her pint-sized Deuter and is now entering her second year with this L.L.Bean pack, in her favorite shade of teal, which is embroidered with her name.
This is a large pack, able to hold more heavy stuff than a fourth grader has any business carrying. It’s got a mesh side pocket for a water bottle and a couple of flat zippered pockets to hold things you want to separate from the main compartment. What we both like about it (other than the embroidered name) is that it’s incredibly sturdy without looking overbuilt. After a trip through the washer to clean out the past year’s spilled yogurt and stains from capless markers, it’s basically back to its original condition. —Martin Cizmar
When my son found out that my daughter was going to get her own tester State backpack to match her State carry-on suitcase, he immediately demanded his own. State is known for its fantastical matching patterns that extend from luggage and backpacks to lunch bags ($48). Its products are pricey, but the kid bags are not worse in quality or fewer in features than the adult bags, which I appreciate. It makes sense, considering kids are often harder on their bags than adults are on theirs.
The Kane kids backpacks come in several sizes. Now that my kids are 8 and 10 years old, they each have the largest double-pocket backpack, which has two separate compartments so that they can separate their dirty clothes or muddy shoes from delicate electronics. Its 23.6-liter capacity can fit up to a 15-inch laptop and is more than capacious enough for a Chromebook, sweatshirt, Omie lunch box, and mini Nalgene water bottle. In fact, these items don’t even use all of the space; my kids probably could’ve stuck with the medium-sized backpack for a little while longer.
On a weekend trip, my son stuffed several big books, a Nintendo Switch, and a full fleece blanket into his. There are also two water bottle pockets, a luggage pass-through so you can attach it to the adjustable handle of a matching carry-on, and a hidden AirTag pocket, so you can keep an eye on them in the airport.
I know what you’re thinking, a GoRuck for kids—how much is that going to set me back? Version 2.0 of GoRuc’s KR1 kids pack is actually not that expensive at $65. Yes, that’s more than some on this page, but this is also an extremely tough backpack made of 1000D cordura (except the part against the back, which 200D to be easier on clothes) just like the GoRuck packs for adults. My son has had version one of the KR1 for almost four years now and it looks like it did the day he got it. Version two looks even better, with more fun colors and a larger, easier to access kangaroo pocket. There’s a g