At this point, you already know how essential vitamins and minerals are for your child’s development, and you are here to find out which of these two brands is better. To cover and compare as many details as possible, we will compare kids’ multivitamins from each brand, so you can better understand which brand has a better formula.
To see which is the best choice, stay until the end of our detailed comparison of SmartyPants and Lil Critters. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Comparison Table
Name | SmartyPants | L'il Critters | Hiya Editors Choice |
Product Image |  |  |  |
Where To Buy | |||
Format: | Gummies are coated with sugar except in vegetarian formula | Gummy bears | Chewables |
Vitamins and other nutriens | A, C, D, E, K, K-2, B-2, B-6, and B-12 | A, B-12, B6, C, D, E | 15 essential vitamins and minerals, some of which are |
Flavors | 3 fruit flavors in standard and 2 in vegetarian formula | 5 fruit flavors | Taste like SweeTarts |
Kids age | Toddler Formula and Organic Toddler Formula ages of 2 – 3, | Manufacture recommends that a child be at least two years old due to choking hazards. | Starting at the age of 2 through mid-teens |
Have formulas for adults | n/a | ||
Have formulas for kids | |||
Contains sugar | |||
Organic, Vegetarian and Vegan Formulas | Vegetarian only with capsules | ||
Contains Omega-3 Fatty Acids | N/A | N/A | |
Free of major allergens | N/A | ||
Contains artificial sweeteners, colors and flavors | |||
Amount of sugar per serving | 2g-5g | 1g-3g | 0g |
Contain gelatin | Pork or beef gelatin in the standard formula | Pork gelatin in the standard formula | |
Manufactured in | USA and Canada | N/A | USA |
Child-resistant packaging | N/A | N/A | N/A |
If you’re looking for an even healthier, sugar-free kids’ multivitamin with a taste kids will love, then check out the Hiya Kids Daily Multivitamin.
SmartyPants Vitamins
SmartyPants are gummy vitamins with formulas to help fulfill your and your child’s daily need for vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients. They have a formula for everyone in the family, including your dog. Yeah, you heard that right.
But because we are comparing kids’ formulas from both brands, let’s see what formula SmartyPants has to offer in this category.
Smarty Pants has kids’ formulas categorized into three groups, which are:
- Toddlers
- Kids
- Teens
You might not have known that SmartyPants has an organic and vegetarian version of almost every formula. Only a few brands offer this, making this a big plus for SmartyPants.
To easily distinguish standard multivitamins from organic and vegetarian formulas, you need to look at the following things:
- Standard multivitamins come in round-shaped bottles, and organic/vegetarian ones come in square-shaped bottles.
- Standard multivitamins come with three fruit flavors mixed together in each bottle, whereas vegetarian comes with only two fruit flavors.
Note: While the organic formula is certified-vegetarian, that doesn’t mean it’s also vegan. The vitamin D3 they use is sourced from wool shorn from sheep.
Sugar Level
Smarty Pants has 2 to 5 grams of sugar per 2 gummy servings in toddler/baby, kids, and teen formulas. It’s good to know that they don’t use artificial sweeteners, preservatives, artificial flavors, or synthetic colors.
Vitamins Flavors
As you can already notice from the previous part, SmartyPants comes packed with different flavors inside the bottle. Most of their formulas include three types of fruit flavors, and a small number of those come with only one. If the formula consists of two flavors, it’s probably vegetarian/organic.
Some of the flavors that they include in kid’s vitamins are:
- Lemon
- Orange
- Strawberry Banana
- Mixed Berry
- Cherry
- White Grape
- Grape
- Strawberry Créme
- Lemon Lime
Smarty Pants Kids Formula
This multivitamin comes in the form of a gummy with three flavors (lemon, orange, strawberry banana) coated with sugar.
Tip: After reading some customer reviews, we discovered that some customers didn’t like the sugar coating and ended up washing it off before giving it to the kids.
The formula contains over 15 nutrients, including omega-3 EPA and DHA fatty acids designed to support immunity, D3 for bone health, B12 for energy metabolism, etc. Omega-3 is also one unique addition to kids’ vitamins that other brands mainly do not include or make a separate formula.
SmartyPants formulas are free of 8 major allergens: milk, tree nut, eggs, wheat, shellfish, fish, peanut, synthetic colors, or artificial flavors.
Note: Standard kid’s formula includes fish oil omega-3, whereas organic/vegetarian has Flaxseed oil omega-3.
SmartyPants says they use gelatin sourced from either pork or beef. However, if you don’t consume pork products, you may consider trying the organic formula, which is vegetarian.
Other Ingredients in This Formula
Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Gelatin, Pectin, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Colors Added (Organic Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, Organic Turmeric)
How to Take Smarty Pants Kids Formula
The website says that children 4 years old and up can take 4 gummies daily with or without food. It’s also advised that each gummy is chewed thoroughly. Children’s formula comes in a bottle of 120 chewing gummies, corresponding to 30 days of intake if you maintain 4 daily.
Lil Critters Daily Gummy Multivitamin
Lil Critters bear-shaped gummy vitamins are a great way for kids to get the essential nutrients they need in characterized shapes giving kids the look of candy, which kids love. Lil Critters multivitamin gummies are packed with 13 essential vitamins and minerals that help kids grow healthy and strong.
If you are looking for an organic/vegetarian option, an Organic Gummy Multivitamin is your formula for a daily multivitamin. You can also get daily multivitamin formulas that feature the gummies in Jurassic World and Paw Patrol characters, which is great if your child likes them.
Daily Gummy Multivitamin – Formula
Lil Critters daily multivitamin gummies contain the following vitamins:
- Vitamin A – for helping maintain vision, skin, and bone growth and support the immune system.
- Vitamin C – for supporting immune health
- Vitamin B6 – essential nutrient to help nourish the brain.
- Vitamin B12 – supports energy metabolism
- Vitamin D – keeps your bones and teeth healthy and helps maintain muscles strong.
- Vitamin E – promotes the function of a healthy circulatory system.
Unfortunately, Lil Critters doesn’t include omega-3 in this formula like SmartyPants, but you can get it in their Omega-3 DHA Gummy Fish formula. This formula is free of gluten, dairy, and high fructose syrup.
Sugar Level
One gummy bear has 1g of total sugar per serving, and two gummy bears are 3g of total sugar. So, overall, we can say that Lil Critters Daily Gummy Multivitamin has low sugar levels per serving compared to SmartyPants.
Vitamins Flavors
We said earlier that SmartyPants comes in three flavors; well, Lil Critters has five different fruit flavors: Cherry, Strawberry, Orange, Pineapple, and Blueberry. Also, flavors are natural, and colors are derived from plants, fruits, and vegetables.
Other Ingredients in Formula:
Water, gelatin (pork), pectin, Glucose syrup, tree nuts, less than 2% of bled oils (coconut or palm), beeswax or carnauba wax, citric acid, and malic acid. For the colors, it’s annatto extract, blueberry concentrate, carrot concentrate, and purple carrot juice concentrate.
How To Take Lil Critters Daily Gummy Multivitamin
For children from 2-3 years of age, take 1 gummy, and for 4 years of age and up, take 2 gummies.
Smarty Pants and Lil Critters Side By Side
The shape of the gummy vitamins is important because kids will likely accept them if they have some character or look like tasty candy. We can say that kids will take both brands by reading the customer’s reviews. Although gummy bears from Lil Critters are more attractive when compared to SmartPants.
Regarding the formula, the Smarty Pants kids multivitamin formula includes 15 nutrients, including Omega-3 EPA and DHA fatty acids. On the other hand, the Lil Critters kids multivitamin formula is packed with 13 nutrients. With that said, Smarty Pants Kids’ formula is more potent.
The organic/vegetarian daily multivitamin formula option is where both sides are on equal ground. This is great if you want your child to avoid consuming gelatin.
The sugar level is important when picking a multivitamin for your child, and you should prefer those with lower amounts of sugar. In this case, Lil Critters are a better option because they have 1-3g of sugar per daily amount, whereas SmartyPants has 2-5g of sugar per daily amount.
Also, what both brands have in common is that they do not contain artificial flavors and sweeteners or synthetic colors. Lil Critters comes with a mix of five fruit flavors (cherry, strawberry, orange, pineapple, and blueberry), whereas SmartyPants has three flavors (lemon, orange, strawberry banana).
SmartyPants does not contain major allergens like milk, tree nuts, eggs, wheat, shellfish, fish, peanuts, synthetic colors, or artificial flavors. Unfortunately, we haven’t found much information about Lil Critter besides that it is gluten and dairy free. So if you are concerned about allergies, you should contact Lil Critters and check before purchasing. An even easier solution is to choose SmartyPants Kids Formula.
Both brands offer formulas with great nutritional value for children, and we think kids will love them no matter which one you choose.
Abdo is a Zoopy writer who loves spending his free time outdoors, camping, and enjoying the peace that nature brings. He also enjoys fixing things - he's particularly good with electronics. His favorite movie is I Am Legend, and he's fascinated by survival gear and safety.