The best thing to do when shopping for a preschool backpack for your kid is bring the kid along! This can help you make sure it fits. You want to make sure that the straps fit and that you are buying the smallets size of back pack that can still fit all of your child's stuff in it.
In fact, it does help you if you know what is going to go in it before you start shopping. Your backpack should be able to hold binders, a packed lunch, cold-weather gear, homework, change of clothes, lunches, drinks and whatever. Of course the needs for this will be different from child to child. You will be amazed at how these tiny little bags can hold so much one day.
As these are for very young children you need to make sure that they are not too complex. Choose ones with one or two smaller pockets and Velcro might be a better choice for a fastener than a zipper for some kids. The less pockets there are the better life is going to be for a small tyke who may find searching through a lot of pockets hard to mange.
It is also a good idea to get a waterproof backpack as many kids have the habit of dropping them in a puddle without even meaning too.
To personalize it put a tag on it that helps you and anyone else looking definitely identifies the backpack. You make your own tag, repurpose and existing tag or purchase a new laminated one. Some stores sell them ready made in different child's names. You can also custom order existing luggage tags from online monogram shops. One that is very popular is on Etsy.com and is called your monogram… You simply choose the font, colors and size that you want and they mail you the completed tag.
However it is not that hard to design one yourself cut it out and make your own tag. You simply purchase the laminate sleeves at Walmart or Giant Tiger or some place similar and then stick your homemade laminate card inside it. This is very easy to do using a rudimentary Word word processing program.
Finally make an effort to get a school bag in a color that helps you distninguish it from the rest in the class. One that looks like all the rest of the backpacks is most likely to get stolen.