Skateboard for a 9 year old.

Skatehut is the 'WCRC of Skateboards' but we went into our local skate shop and went with what they recommended.

Plus, for the £100 or so it'll cost you to get one put together at a skateshop it'll be a more fun experience she'll get to pick the design, what colour grip tape etc,. it'll make it 'hers'

If you just want a link so you have somethin to put under the tree the simple answer is a decent 7.75" like this one.

https://www.skatehut.co.uk/santa-cruz-screaming-hand-mini-sk8-complete-skateboard-yellow-7-75.htm

This is a surprising decent little £20 longboard

You can look up longboard dancing which she may be interested in

I’d also recommend buying a Metal skate tool as it is a similar price to plastic tools but will last forever, this one tool is ALL you need

Then your daughter (and you) can have some father/daughter time dismantling and rebuilding the board, like a Lego set, videos are abundant on YouTube for this

A set of Colourful safety pads will help her and you have a better time (also available in black)

If she is not already aware of

14 year old Sky Brown she’s an incredible role model, in which case One of these skateboards will be better

Or as we all know, N+1

We bought my 9yo son a 30 quid Rampage one 7.5 I think, it was fine until he inevitably lost interest.
I bought a Mini Logo complete to hang out with him at the park which was about 60 quid. Bearings didn't last long, but Bones Reds were just over a tender and all good now. I've never hurt myself so much in such a short space of time though.

Lots of people will tell you to spend £100+ on a good setup, which is great, but in my limited experience 9 year old may not stick with hobbies for ages. And if they do, then they can have fun upgrading with pocket money/subsequent Christmases and birthdays.

Sorry for late reply/bump, had to register an account and wait out my 8 hours probationary period as I haven't posted here before, only lurked.

I'm Australian so can't comment on specific shops in the UK, but I've been a skateboarder for a fairly long time (21 now, started when I was around your daughter's age) so I thought I'd offer my 2 cents FWIW.

I'd recommend getting her a "complete" (a preassembled skateboard, rather than individual parts) from an established skateboard company. Most large board companies make a complete and they'll probably be much of a muchness in terms of quality, but the Santa Cruz @hatter linked to is good as an example.

Besides brand, the other thing to consider is sizing. The relevant measurement is deck size, ranging from about 7.5" to 8.5." For a nine year old a 7.5" or 7.75" is probably your best bet. You can find various charts online, but it's not a precise science (bit like wheel size on MTBs) and it's only really important if she gets interested in tricks. Basically though, I'd recommend looking for a 7.5" or 7.75" complete from a reputable skateboard brand, and if it doesn't have to be a surprise, try to work together to find a board graphic she's excited about - counts for a lot!

There are two other options: something cheap from a department store/toy store etc like that £20 longboard, or selecting parts individually at a skateshop as @hatter suggests. I think the department store offerings cut enough corners that the usability suffers - that cheap longboard has PVC wheels for example, whereas skateboard wheels are almost always made out of polyurethane. Hard for me to say, but I think even a beginner would notice the difference between that board and a decent complete.

The difference between an entry level complete and a custom setup from a skate shop is smaller - the trucks will turn and grind better, the wheels be more durable and better suited to some tricks, and the deck will have better "pop," but most of those things only become relevant once you've spent a lot of time on a board and are trying pretty advanced maneuvers. If you get her a complete though and the interest endures, you can always gradually upgrade part by part to better trucks/wheels/deck etc as @submarined suggests. Skateboards are fantastically standardised, and so there's no equivalent of a straight headtube or non-boost dropouts to limit your options - all wheels, bearings, trucks, decks etc are entirely interchangeable. There's a lot of choice out there though, and it may be easier for her to pick between all the brands/sizes/hardnesses of wheels, say, after she's spent some time on a board and knows where her interests lie (riding around vs doing tricks, different disciplines within skateboarding like street vs transition, and so on) rather than right now having not stepped on a skateboard before.

Certainly worth picking up a skate tool though as @charlie.farley recommends. Skateboards are pretty simple things, and I think that doing stuff like cleaning the bearings, switching truck bushings, and just disassembling and reassembling it set me up with some skills, confidence, and enthusiasm to work on my own bikes, guitars, and so on. Helmet and at least wrist guards are also a good idea - from my experience, broken wrists are like the skateboarding equivalent of broken collarbones among mountain bikers (if that odd analogy makes sense). Knee and elbow pads are not so essential I reckon (other than for ramp skating) but might offer you some peace of mind and her some additional confidence.

Final thing I would add is that skateparks are not necessarily the best place to learn to skateboard. Perhaps counterintuitive, but they can be chaotic/noisy/intimidating and you need some decent board control before the ramps are much fun to ride. I'd recommend starting on flat, smooth concrete/asphalt without big cracks (maybe harder to find in the UK vs Aus?) - I think I learnt on a basketball half-court in a park that didn't get much use.

Sorry for a long, rambling reply with possible information overload, but I hope it's been helpful. More than happy to answer further specific questions if you have any too!

My nine year old daughter has also asked for a skateboard for xmas. After a google search there were some suggestion from the Singletrack mind for a Tony Hawk Signature. I found a barely used one on ebay for peanuts. Hopefully she likes it and goes on to be the next Sky Brown and doesn't get board and parks it at the back of the garage like its previous owner!

I got my 9yo a Santa Cruz for 80 quid or so in 8" flavour, general consensus from skater mates, and 2 or 3 shops was that the size was fine for when they are starting out

Soft wheels is my only additional advice. Avoids both unexpected skateboard zooming-off leaving you flat on your arse moments, as well as firing you out the front door after you roll over a near invisible piece of grit bringing the board to an instant stop.

What @ikebay said... Great first post and welcome 🙂

What @ikebay said... Great first post and welcome 🙂

Brilliant timing, my 10-year-old has asked for a skateboard for Christmas and I know nothing about them.

And thanks @ikebay for such an informative post!

When my lad started skateboarding we booked a couple of lessons at a local skatepark to help him get the absolute basics right - how to position his feet properly, how to start and and stop safely, and then turning and pumping for speed and so on. Really helpful, taught him tips and techniques I didn't know about

Great stuff

Great stuff.

Thump used to skate and went all over Scotland with his skateboard - including during peak Covid, aged 12. Oops.

The kids at the skate park are great - they all look out for each other and encourage each other on.

PS: Expect to get through boards at a regular rate. 

So we decided to get Charlie a special semi-retirement present and it involved a deck and some custom grip tape. Skip to the end and unexpectedly we have 10 very exclusive grip tape sheets to offer you. We aren't getting any more so if you want to be one of fewer than a dozen people to ride  custom Singletrack gripped deck then get one quick.

https://singletrackworld.com/shop/singletrack-skateboard-grip-tape/