Tarot Decks for Children and Children at Heart:
A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

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Click on the name of the deck to get to more information about the deck and a review

These decks have been selected as being the least scary and with the least nudity of the decks in my collection. One has been intentionally designed for children (the Whimsical), but the others should be considered as additional possibilities.

The Hanson-Roberts, Hello Kitty and African decks are the most standard to the Rider Waite pattern (and thus a bit more scary than some of the others). The Fenton-Bale deck is standard to the Marseilles pattern. The rest are somewhat more innovative in their depictions, with Voyager the least standard of the bunch. Here are the specific cards that might be problematic:

African (2 3/8" x 3 1/8"): Bare breasts (in cartoon style) on 4 Wands and 3 of Cups and the title card. The traditionally scary cards (devil, 10 swords, tower) are a bit scary perhaps.
Ator (3" x 4 1/4"):
Gnomes (2 3/8" x 4 1/2"):
Hanson-Roberts (2 3/8" x 4"): The star is nude, but all naughty bits are obscured by strategic placement of her long hair. The traditionally scary cards (devil, 10 swords, tower) are a bit scary perhaps.
Inner Child (3 7/8" x 6 1/4"): These cards are BIG. No nudity or scariness issues.
Moon Garden (2 3/4" x 4 3/4"): The star is nude in barbie doll fashion (no naughty bits depicted), the death card is a bit scary perhaps.
Fenton-Bale (2 3/8" x 4 3/8"): No issues for nudity or scariness, but as with any Marseilles-style deck, the 2-10 "pips" are not illustrated with scenes.
Voyager (3 3/4" x 5 1/2"): There is a naked pregnant woman on the Woman of Worlds (Queen of Pentacles) card, but no naughty bits are exposed. Otherwise, no scary or naked cards. This deck is not completely standard.
Whimsical (2 3/4" x 4 3/4"): No issues for nudity or scariness.
Wise Gal (1 3/4" X 3 1/4"): No issues for nudity or scariness.

Of these decks, the African and Hanson-Roberts are smaller than normal and so are better for small hands to shuffle. The African is so small that with my adult hands I have a tendency to drop cards if I'm not careful. And the Wise Gal, once punched out, is even smaller than the African. Meanwhile, the Voyager is so large that most adults tend to shuffle it by swirling the cards on a table. The Voyager is also thick and stiff compared to the usual US Games deck.

See also New Age and Herbal Decks

Some decks I don't have yet:
Fairy Tarot
Tarot of Oz
Wonderland Tarot
Hello Tarot
Gummibear Tarot (This deck is supposed to be released in a mass-market edition by US Games in October 2004)
Le Tarot d'Or (Majors Only)

Some decks only available for viewing on the web:
Sophie's Tarot (Drawn by the five year old daughter of Marie White)
LEGO Tarot by Reasonably Clever
Ursidae Tarot by Mark Wogan

An article about using tarot cards with children
Teaching the Tarot to Children by J. Rebecca Cougill CTC
Articles about teaching children tarot at Elowyn's Pagan Parenting Cauldron
Threads at Aeclectic Tarot Forum
The Bateleur's Tale: A Tarot Story for Children by Diana
Reading the Tarot From the Eyes of a Child by Rondell Demmings

Two of the decks shown are books for kids covering multiple fortune-telling systems, with punch-out cards bound in:
The Amazing Fortune Telling Book - Major Arcana only
Wise Gal Tarot - Marseilles style 78-card deck

Also intended for kids, by the same team who did Wise Gal Tarot, the children's activity kit Ask Babalouie, containing a variety of simple oracular items, including a cootie catcher and a deck of non-tarot oracular cards.

If none of these grab you, you might also consider getting a theme deck for a theme the child is interested in (e.g. cats, dragons, baseball, etc.) Visit a large tarot card site like Solandia's and browse through the decks cataloged to get ideas.