Headspace for Families Review: Is It Worth the Price?
InnerCalmGuide·Aug 6, 2026·3 min read
Headspace has expanded beyond individual meditation into a family platform — with content for kids aged 3+, teens, and shared family activities. The family plan costs more than the individual subscription, and the question is simple: is the kids' content good enough to justify upgrading?
What's in the Kids' Section
Ages 3-5: Short animations (1-3 minutes) teaching breathing exercises through characters. Think of it as Peppa Pig meets mindfulness. The animations are genuinely charming — bright, simple, and voiced in a warm, engaging tone. Exercises include 'take five breaths with the butterfly' and 'squeeze and release with the bear.'
Ages 6-8: Guided meditations of 3-5 minutes. Focus on emotions (dealing with anger, feeling left out, being scared), sleep (bedtime wind-down stories), and focus (before homework sessions). The language is age-appropriate without being condescending.
Ages 9-12: Longer sessions (5-10 minutes) addressing pre-teen concerns — friendship issues, body changes, academic pressure, self-confidence. The tone shifts from playful to supportive. Some exercises are designed for use before specific situations (tests, sports events, difficult conversations).
Teens (13+): The standard adult content, essentially. Headspace doesn't have a dedicated teen section, which is a gap. Teens are directed to the general meditation library with suggestions for relevant topics.
Family Activities
Headspace offers shared exercises designed for parent-child pairs or whole families. 'Breathing together' guides, 'wind-down' routines for bedtime, and 'morning calm' sessions for starting the day. These work best with younger children (3-8) who still enjoy doing things with their parents. Pre-teens and teens are unlikely to participate voluntarily.
What Works Well
The animations for young children are excellent. They make abstract concepts (emotions, breathing, body awareness) visual and engaging. Children voluntarily return to watch them, which is the ultimate test.
Sleep content is strong. Headspace's sleep stories and wind-down exercises work well for children who resist bedtime. The gentle narratives are engaging enough to hold attention while boring enough to induce drowsiness.
The interface is simple. Kids can navigate to their section without help. Content is clearly organised by age and topic.
What Doesn't Work
No dedicated teen content. The biggest gap. Teens have specific mental health needs (social media stress, identity, academic pressure) that generic adult content doesn't address. Smiling Mind does this better — and it's free.
Limited depth per age group. Each age bracket has perhaps 30-40 sessions. Children who use the app regularly will exhaust the content within a few months. Compare this to the adult library with hundreds of sessions.
The family plan pricing. The family plan costs approximately £80/year (compared to £55 individual). For the additional £25, you get kids' content that your child may or may not use. That's a modest premium, but Smiling Mind offers comparable kids' content completely free.
Alternatives
Smiling Mind: 100% free, excellent age-specific programmes (7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18), designed by psychologists, backed by research. The strongest free alternative for kids' meditation.
Calm Kids: Calm includes some kids' content within its standard subscription, including Sleep Stories for Children narrated in gentle, engaging voices.
The Verdict
Worth it if: You already use Headspace individually, your children are 3-8, and the £25 premium is negligible. The young children's animations are genuinely good and the shared activities create lovely parent-child moments.
Not worth it if: Your children are teens (better free alternatives exist), you don't already use Headspace, or budget is a concern (Smiling Mind is free and excellent).
Rating: 7/10 (great for young kids, weak for teens, outperformed by free alternatives)
