Kids Driving Lesson for an 8 Year Old with Young Drivers!
Driving experience for 8 year old kids with Young Drivers!!
Freddie has had his first kids driving lesson……
Yes, I know he is only 8 years old.
I had heard of children learning to drive before 17 and having taster sessions as my stepson drove a Lamborghini when he was 13. But 8!! I never thought this was possible. Well in fact they start at 5 at Young Driver.
The kids driving lessons are just fantastic and a great way for kids to learn about road safety.
This makes such a great family experience day, check out some of our other favourites.
Whether you’re driving a car, riding a motorcycle, or biking, one of the most important aspects of driving is learning good habits for sharing the road with bikes safely.
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Driving Experience for 8 Year Old
The clever people at Young Driver have created a car specifically designed for 5-10 year old’s to drive. See for yourself here!
The cars, named firefly, are two-seater and have adjustable seats, so perfect for all sizes. There are no doors so you have to climb over the car.
This was absolutely no problem for any of the children as they are very low to the ground.
As soon as we got there, Freddie got in the car with one of the instructors. There was one instructor per car for the kids driving lesson. He was told how the car worked and how to put it into reverse and turn the wheel.
They did a couple of laps before Dad jumped in the car with him. He easily had a good 20 minutes in the car.
The car can do up to 10mph and the children drive around a specially designed course with one of their parents.
There is a straight road plus plenty of bends and turns. As there were two fireflies operating on Saturday, Freddie had to give way and be aware of the other driver as well. Which only improved the reality of an actual kids driving lesson.
How much is a lesson with Young Drivers?
There are 9 sites across the UK that take bookings for young drivers for 5-10-year-olds. The price of each lesson is £19.95 for a 20-minute session, 5 minutes of training from the instructors plus 15 minutes with your parent.
The car was designed by a veteran car designer in the Midlands.
The car is designed to be a very similar driving experience to a normal car. According to Stuart (Freddie’s Daddy), the steering was quite tough and was quite similar to a normal car.
After the 20 minutes were up Freddie got his very own driving license, which he had to sign. He was very proud of himself, although now of course thinks he can drive on an actual road!
Young Drivers Review
Now Freddie absolutely enjoyed his experience, which is all I care about. However, there were a few issues (which did not affect his enjoyment by the way) that I had.
Although there were indicator lights. These were just for show (it would have been nice if the children were shown how to indicate).
The tablet-based dashboard didn’t work it was just a black plastic screen. So the children had no idea of the speed they were doing or the time. Which I think is meant to be the idea behind the screens.
Apparently, they show the speed and time similar to a normal car, but either they don’t or the 2 cars at Warwick were faulty.
But aside from these negatives, which according to the website the cars can do, Freddie absolutely loved it.
We went to friends for lunch the following day and he couldn’t wait to show his friends his new driving license!
The only negative remark would be it was all outside.
We were lucky and the time we went it had stopped raining.
If it had been raining though we would have carried on regardless with umbrellas! They are planning on getting inside facilities, but at Warwick certainly, it is all outside.
As the cars are convertibles this would not be an ideal experience in the rain.
What did we really think of the Young Driver Experience?
I asked Freddie what he thought about his kids driving lesson on the way home.
All I got was it was “sic!” Now as we are of a different generation we had to check that he actually wasn’t poorly, but he assured us it meant it was great!!!
I think you will also enjoy our favourite board games for 8 year olds.
Last Updated on 15 July 2024 by Clare Brown
I had no idea such a thing existed! Looks like a blast.
I know its mad isn’t it, and yes it was great fun 🙂
This looks like so much fun! Can I have a go? My children did something similar when they were about 10 and they loved it. I like that the course is quite extensive. He looks so pleased with himself!
My children have taken part in a similar activity when we were on holiday a few years ago
This looks amazing I cannot wait until my children are into this sort of thing
I highly recommend it, although they do it from the age of 5!! 🙂
Oh my goodness! Ben would love this!
What a great idea and negatives aside, it does sound like it was a great experience overall. Freddie certainly looked like he was enjoying it. I agree with you though that working indicators would be good!
I have seen these driving lessons for children before and they are such a great idea. A great introduction to driving for later in their life.
Oh wow! How great that they do this for kids. Mine would have such fun learning to drive.
I love these young driver schemes, such a great idea.
I had never heard of this before visiting your blog. What a great idea. I can imagine how much fun he had. I bet my Son would love this experience 🙂
What a great idea! I’d love to do this when I’m older. My mummy learnt to drive straight off the bat when she was 15/16yrs in Ireland as she needed her independence!
This is such a great idea I think! Canywait to take my little boy.
My kids have done these lessons too and really loved it. I loved getting driven round by them.