

Welcome to my Kidamento review! If you’re wondering if the Kidamento Model P Instant Print camera is the right choice for your child, you’re in the right place.
Last year for Christmas my daughter desperately wanted an Instax camera.
The camera itself is only about $90, but the film works out to roughly a buck a photo!
As a pre-teen I coveted a Polaroid camera that took instant mini Polaroid pictures. Apparently it was called the I-zone. Mine was red.

I remember my cousin and I each got one for Christmas.
And the film was expensive.
And choosing how to use each picture was stressful.
And who would keep a picture if we’d taken one with both of us in it?!
Because each photo was an investment, I still have some of them! Thank goodness social media wasn’t a thing when I was a teenager because this scrapbook page is “cringe” as the kids say.

Naturally my I-zone camera got used almost never because once I’d exhausted the small supply of film that came with it at Christmas, I didn’t have the cash to keep restocking.
With this personal experience in mind, my own bank account, and my daughter’s familiarity with taking infinite digital photos without fear of “wasting” film, I knew an Instax camera would be a disaster. I did not want $20 worth of Polaroids of stuffed animals … or toes.

What is Kidamento?
I did some research and discovered a Canadian company called Kidamento, run by Toronto-based parents Roland and Zoe. Their company specializes in kid-friendly digital cameras. I had a couple customer service exchanges with Kidamento when I first purchased my daughter’s camera, and it was clear they are a small company committed to happy customers!
The Kidamento Model P is their instant print model and it is designed as an adorable Panda. It ticked all my boxes for what kind of camera I wanted for my then 7-year-old daughter.

What makes the Kidamento Model P great?
The Kidamento Model P offers affordable instant prints
The Model P prints on thermal paper: the same kind of paper used for receipts. Don’t worry, it’s BPA-free! A box of refill paper costs $20, and gives you about 300 pictures. That means it’s about 6 cents per print!

Now of course this doesn’t mean we want our kids printing hundreds of pictures a day, but a couple blurry feet pictures aren’t the end of the world. Of course, these black and white pictures are not equivalent to a Polaroid picture, but my kids find them more than adequate for sticking around the house and sharing with friends.

The Kidamento Model P is also a digital camera
The Model P is also just an ordinary digital camera. Every picture taken need not be printed, and you can also take videos. The photo quality is decent, taking 9 megapixel full colour digital pictures and 1920×1080 videos on both its rear and selfie cameras. If your priority is image quality (but not instant print), you’re looking at the Model K.

The camera also comes with a 16 GB microSD card.
It’s not instant print: the budding photographer can take pictures of whatever their heart desires and print out their favourites.

Some folks have asked me if the prints fade overtime. The prints below were taken in January 2023 and it is now October, the still look fine to me! I am sure that left in direct sunlight they’d fade quite quickly. If you need archival quality prints, you are in the wrong place.

My daughter is only just now starting a roll of the sticker paper, a whole new world of creative possibilities has been unleashed!
The Kidamento Model P connects to your phone
You can easily transfer photos from the camera to your phone over wifi using the DiDicam app, and if ever your child takes an actual GOOD picture of you and you want to print it or use it as your social media profile pic, you can!

This is my favourite picture my daughter has taken so far. You can see that the image quality is decent, so I can always have a nice, colour copy of it in our files too!
The Kidamento Model P is kid-friendly
My daughter helped me make this demo video to show how easy it is to use!
No one wants to spend money on an electronic device that bites the dust when the child inevitably drops it. Although the Model P is not their most durable camera (their non-printing cameras have a more robust silicone cover), it is still designed to withstand rough handling by playful kids. It is the right size and shape for little hands.
If you are looking for super durable for the younger crowd, there’s the Model C. If your priority is image quality (but not instant print), you’re looking at the Model K.

Obviously, the camera features adorable frames and stickers you can add to a photo: unicorns, bumble bees, sloths, kittens … the real kid-pleasers. The Model K comes with a Scavenger Hunt photobook and cute stickers to customize the look of the camera.

The Kidamento Model P is also a wireless thermal printer
Something I think is really cool is that you can also use the Model P camera to print out photos you’ve taken on your phone, or really to print out anything that is on your phone.

Using the Didicam app, you can add stickers or frames to photos on your phone, choose little images to print out and colour and even create your own designs, doodles and messages.

Honestly, I would’ve gone NUTS for a toy like this as a kid. And maybe I had a lot of fun making sample images for this post …

The Kidamento doesn’t have games
The main competition of the Kidamento is the VTech KidiZoom, and the primary difference between the two is that the Kidamento does not feature games.

I feel like I am not alone in saying that my kids have enough devices for gaming, and I am not interested in adding yet another option for “screen time” when what I really want is for my kids to be creative and have fun taking pictures (without costing me a fortune in film).
What doesn’t the Kidamento do?
The Kidamento does not have a zoom feature, so no distance photography unfortunately. Its navigation controls are buttons rather than a touch screen menu which kids are usually more familiar with, but my daughter hasn’t had any issues.
Since it’s thermal paper, there’s no ink that needs replacing, but of course it only prints in black and white.
My daughter’s biggest complaint about her camera is that it’s not a cat. The panda design is the only one available for the Model P.

Shop Kidamento
The Koko the Panda Model P camera retails for $119.99 in Canada. (Shipping is also available to the US.)
Save 15% off your Kidamento purchase using my affiliate link!

Kidamento products are also available on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com.


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