Kids Shoes with Wide Toe Box – The Best Shoes for Kids with Wide or Extra Wide Feet!

Are you having a hard time finding a pair of shoes to accommodate the shape of your child’s wide feet? Have you noticed red marks on the top of your kids’ feet (instep) or have you noticed your kids’ toes overlapping one other?

I have good news for you, there are certain shoe styles that I have fitted before that provide a a round toe-box that prevents all of those issues from happening.

I have been fitting children’s shoes and orthotics for the last 10 years, working for a specialized shoe store that focuses on children with foot and leg pain, but we provide regular shoe fittings as well. I have helped hundreds of children with wide feet find the perfect pair of shoes for their feet, as I am familiar with which shoe brands and which shoe styles fit wider than others.

Parents need to keep in mind that shoes are available in different widths such as narrow, medium, wide, and extra wide. This means that it doesn’t matter how narrow or how wide your kids’ feet are, there is always at least one particular shoe style out there that will fit the shape of  your child’s feet perfectly, and I will help you find them.

One of the most common mistakes parents make is to assume that once they find is a shoe that is labeled as wide (“W”) or extra wide (“XW”), that shoe will automatically fit the shape of their kids’ wide feet. There are actually 2 key features that your kids’ shoes must provide:

✅ Rounder Toe-Box.

✅ Extra Depth.

Let me elaborate.

The front part of the shoe (the toe-box), can be either rounded or pointy, and this directly affects how the shoe fits the shape of your child’s feet.

Take a look at the image to visualize the difference between a shoe with a rounder toe-box versus one with a pointier toe-box. These shoes are the same length and width.

Do you notice how the New Balance shoe (grey) has a much rounder toe-box compared to the Saucony one (navy blue)?

Therefore, you might choose a shoe in a wide width (W) assuming that it will fit the shape of your child’s wide feet, but if the shoe has a pointy toe-box it will end up pinching your kids’ toes.

Like I mentioned before, a shoe with a rounder toe-box will prevent your kids’ toes from overlapping and rubbing against each other.

I have noticed that New Balance makes the best shoes for children with wide or extra wide feet, as it manufactures deeper shoes with the roundest toe-boxes.

Before I provide you with a selection of the best kids’ shoes with a wide toe box, I want to first show you what features these shoes are going to provide to your kids’ feet. I also want to show you how to make sure you provide your child with the correct shoe size if you are going to buy your kids’ shoes online.

Shoes with Wide Toe-Boxes – What Does it Mean?

A shoe with a wide toe-box simply implies that the shoe has more of a round shape in the front rather than a pointy one. The wide toe-box ensures that there is an appropriate space for the growth and development of your children’s toes.

If your child is not able to move his or her toes freely inside the shoes, the toes will be cramped against each other and that constant friction will lead to blisters, calluses, and corns. The most common reason why these issues arise is from wearing shoes that are too narrow, so let’s keep your kids’ feet healthy by providing them with shoes that fit properly.

If you have been buying children’s shoes for a while now, you should know by now how children’s feet tend to grow pretty quickly.

That is the reason why every time you buy your kids’ shoes you must allow for a certain amount of growing room (0.3 inches or 0.7 centimeters). The issue is that your kids’ feet not only grow in length, but also in width. That is why it’s so important for the shoes to have the appropriate amount of width space, to prevent your child from outgrowing the width of the shoe faster than the length.

There are certain shoe brands and certain shoe styles among those brands that tend to be more consistent in making good quality shoes for children with wide or extra wide feet. If you have a child with wide or extra wide feet, you might want to start getting familiar with a shoe brand called New Balance.

Let’s find out why…

New Balance Kids’ Shoes – The Best Shoes for Kids with Wide Feet!

New Balance kids’ shoes come with the roundest, widest toe-boxes, making them the most comfortable and best fitting shoes for children with wide or extra wide feet.

Every time a child comes to the shoe store with wide or extra wide feet – or needs a pair of orthotics to be fitted inside the shoes, I always fit them in a pair of New Balance shoes. However, in order to keep your kids’ feet healthy, there are several other features that the shoes must provide:

✅ Support: The shoes that you provide for your child must be lightweight and flexible, but they must also be supportive in order to minimize the impact that your kids’ feet take every time they come in contact with the ground.

✅ Firm Heel Counter: This part of the shoe is the one that provides ankle support. As your children keep growing up and start getting involved in high impact activities and sports, they are going to require proper shoes to support and protect their ankles from injuries.

✅ Traction: A shoe with good traction prevents children from slipping and falling, especially when they are walking on wet and slippery surfaces.

✅ Breathable: Shoes must be breathable in order to prevent the buildup of bacteria inside the shoes.

The shoes that I will describe below provide all of these features, which will guarantee that you will be keeping your children’s feet and legs healthy. However, I am always emphasizing to parents that if  they don’t provide their kids with the correct shoe size, the child won’t get any of the benefits that the shoes have to offer.

That is the reason why I always recommend parents to take their kids to their local children’s shoe store where a shoe fitter can properly measure their feet and find shoes accordingly. The issue is that most local children’s shoe store have been closing, and parents must purchase their kids’ shoes online.

Start by taking a look at a map I created where I describe the best children’s shoe stores by state:

The Best Kids’ Shoe Stores – Where To Go For Proper Fittings

If after looking at that map you still can’t seem to find a good fitting kids’ shoe store in your area, then take a look at an article I wrote where I describe the simplest, yet most effective way to figure out your child’s foot size:

How To Measure Kids Shoe Size From Home – In Less Than 30 Seconds!

Now that you know how to make sure your children’s shoes fit, you are ready to take a look at a selection of the best New Balance kids’ shoes that come with the widest, roundest toe-boxes.

The Best Kids’ Shoes with Wide Toe Box ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Please keep in mind that I only review shoe styles that I have fitted before, as that is the only way for me to tell the amount of support that the shoes provide, the materials the shoes are made of,  and how they fit.

The shoes below all come with the roundest toe-boxes and will fit the shape of a child with medium, wide, or extra wide feet (as long as you choose the shoe width accordingly). These shoes will also fit the shape of children with high insteps. Disclosure: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases.

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In order to allow for growing room, I highly recommend that parents order this shoe style a half a size larger than the size their children’s feet measure. This translates to 0.3 inches or 0.7 centimeters of space between your child’s longest toe and the end of the shoes.

I have fitted all of these shoe styles before and I can tell you that they provide excellent support, but they are lightweight and flexible at the same time. I can also tell you that these shoes styles are extremely durable, and your child will outgrow these shoes before they get destroyed.

Do you happen to need a pair of shoes with a round toe-box for yourself? I actually wrote an article where I describe the best women’s shoes with a wide toe box and you can find it here:

Women’s Shoes with a Wide Toe Box – The Best Shoe Styles with Round Toe Boxes!

Let’s Keep your Kids’ Feet Healthy – Don’t Forget About the Socks!

I always explain to parents that allowing their children to wear shoes without socks can create several foot issues. Please keep in mind that socks act as a barrier between the feet and the shoes, and prevent the buildup of bacteria inside the shoes.

While I can’t get into too much detail about the importance of socks in keeping your children’s feet healthy in this article, I wrote another article that will explain everything you need to know about the importance of wearing socks with the shoes. Just click the link below:

The Importance Of Wearing Socks – Grippers Or No Grippers?

There are certain children that feel every bump and lump as soon as they put their socks on. The good news is that I have the solution to stop the fussing! Have you ever heard of seamless socks? Parents call them the miracle socks, since they truly make a difference in the way the socks feel.

Another important advantage of these socks is that they will prevent your kids’ toes from overlapping each other, this is also really important specially if your child has wide or extra wide feet. You can see a selection of the best seamless socks for kids here:

Seamless Socks For Kids – Stop The Struggle Of Putting Socks On!

Have you found a particular shoe style that has worked well for your child’s wide feet? Please share your findings below so other families can benefit from your experiences.