I need a simple and rugged flashlight for small kids.
Easy to maneuver, a button that is soft to press
One mode
5-10 lumen
Flood (they will look into the beam)
Safe i.e not easy to take apart and swallow the battery or tailcap
1 AA/AAA
I gave my son an Everready “Flex” Yellow lantern from Home Deport for like $3 at that age. He loved it. I also gave him a Coast G-whatever inspection light which he didn’t enjoy as much. Given all the new research about blue lights harmful effects some people may want to consider a warm white or high CRI type emitter though that could increase cost. My first pick these days would be a Sofirn C01 with a neck lanyard, though it doesn’t meet your clicky requirement. Upping the cost a bit, a yuji warm 5mm LED dropped into a P60 and run in a 2xAA host would be about perfect and would have gobbs of runtime for when they forget to turn it off.