diff --git a/sklearn/datasets/_base.py b/sklearn/datasets/_base.py
index ed94d5ec1f0d7..70307ebf63c03 100644
--- a/sklearn/datasets/_base.py
+++ b/sklearn/datasets/_base.py
@@ -15,13 +15,14 @@
 from os import environ, listdir, makedirs
 from os.path import expanduser, isdir, join, splitext
 from pathlib import Path
+from numbers import Integral
 
 from ..preprocessing import scale
 from ..utils import Bunch
 from ..utils import check_random_state
 from ..utils import check_pandas_support
 from ..utils.fixes import _open_binary, _open_text, _read_text, _contents
-from ..utils._param_validation import validate_params
+from ..utils._param_validation import validate_params, Interval
 
 import numpy as np
 
@@ -820,6 +821,13 @@ def load_breast_cancer(*, return_X_y=False, as_frame=False):
     )
 
 
+@validate_params(
+    {
+        "n_class": [Interval(Integral, 1, 10, closed="both")],
+        "return_X_y": ["boolean"],
+        "as_frame": ["boolean"],
+    }
+)
 def load_digits(*, n_class=10, return_X_y=False, as_frame=False):
     """Load and return the digits dataset (classification).
 
diff --git a/sklearn/tests/test_public_functions.py b/sklearn/tests/test_public_functions.py
index d46ae07821ac2..159eaaa17ba07 100644
--- a/sklearn/tests/test_public_functions.py
+++ b/sklearn/tests/test_public_functions.py
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ def _check_function_param_validation(
     "sklearn.datasets.fetch_species_distributions",
     "sklearn.datasets.load_breast_cancer",
     "sklearn.datasets.load_diabetes",
+    "sklearn.datasets.load_digits",
     "sklearn.datasets.load_iris",
     "sklearn.datasets.load_svmlight_file",
     "sklearn.datasets.load_svmlight_files",