The Fire tablets made by Amazon are our favorite tablets for toddlers and kids. They come packed with loads of great content that your little ones are sure to love.
There are thousands of different apps pre-loaded on every Fire for Kids tablet and it can be hard to know what is on it and how to make the most of what is available.
For this reason, we have pulled together this guide to using an Amazon Fire tablet with Amazon Kids+ to help you get to know more about how it works and the content available.
We have also written a guide to setting up an Amazon Fire for kids tablet so if you’ve just got yours, have a read of that to help you get started.
Why Amazon Fire Tablets?
Before we continue, I thought it was worth saying why we rate the Amazon Fire tablets so highly.
There are 3 models: the Amazon Fire HD 10 kids edition tablet, Fire HD 8 and Fire 7.
They are all brilliant.
Our top pick is the Amazon Fire HD 10 kids edition tablet.
It is available at a bargain price and has a brilliant big screen that your kids will love.
It comes with some of the best children’s safety features so there is no need to be concerned over what your child might see or buy.
It also comes pre-loaded with great kids content (games, books, tv shows etc). So you don’t have to waste your time trying to find them decent free kids games, or spend loads of money buying more and more games for them to try.
On top of all this, there is an amazing 2-year guarantee that means Amazon will replace it no questions asked (even if your child throws it out of the window!)
Reasons to pick the Amazon Fire HD 10
- Amazing Price
- 2-year guarantee
- Brilliant kids security features
- Robust case included
- Tonnes of great age-appropriate content
(If you like the sound of this but want to save some money, the smaller Fire HD 8 and Fire 7 tablets are also brilliant).
You will need some headphones for your child. We have reviewed some great kids headphones in this post. The most important thing is to get ones that are volume limited for delicate eardrums. We like these ones the best.
Kids Mode
When you first get your Fire tablet you will need to create kids profile and set age their age and what content you want them to be able to use. You can block certain content if you wish, set screen time limits or even add educational challenges to unlock the entertainment apps.
Once the tablet is set up in the kid’s profile, you can’t make any changes unless you log into your adult profile (password protected). This means that you don’t have to worry about handing over the tablet your child pressing the wrong button and it never working again.
You will know when you are in a kids profile on your tablet as you get a nice blue background and big icons.
Across the top, you have icons for downloads, apps & games, educational, books, movies and TV, and Audible. These are white and I think they get overlooked by kids in favor of the big colorful icons below.
The majority of the icons are further split up as recent, favorites, added for you, character and themes, movies and TV, Disney, etc. There are a whole load of different categories that you will go through as you scroll down.
You can hit the headings or scroll across to see what is available in each section.
It is a really good and intuitive system and our 2 year old could quickly get the hang of it. Within the settings, you can set the age range for content so that the more advanced (but still kids appropriate) apps can be hidden from babies, toddlers and younger users.
This is handy as it avoids the frustration of a too-challenging game being opened up. There are limits to this though and the youngest users are likely to need some help to get the most out of their tablet.
Using a tablet with an adult has been shown to be the best way to introduce young children to this technology and is less likely to have a bad impact on their behavior than when left to get on with it alone.
But let’s be honest there are always times when you will want to get on with something while your kids play on their tablet. It is one of the great things about having them!
As always, it is about moderation.
Great Kids Content – Amazon Kids+
If you get the Fire for Kids edition then you get access to a huge range of games, TV shows, and books through Amazon Kids+. This used to be branded as Fire for Kids Unlimited in the UK and Freetime Unlimited in the USA. I expect that the available content varies slightly based on your location. I am in the UK.
There is so much content on there that it can actually be quite hard to find the best titles for your child. Obviously, there are lots of games and shows with familiar characters that your little one will know and love and these will immediately draw their eye.
But there are also some lesser-known gems that you or your child might not necessarily click on at first glance.
The user interface when in kids mode is great for young children and is very easy to use. It presents apps with a logo and nothing else. This encourages experimentation and trial and error as your child tries out games and see if they like them.
Best Amazon Fire Apps
This list of the best Amazon Fire apps for kids will help if you are struggling to find something that like (unlikely) or are interested to find out what is available. This is not an attempt to provide a definitive list, just some personal recommendations of games that I like and that my daughters have enjoyed playing.
Teach Your Monster to Read
I am not sure that I can find the words to describe just how good this game is. First off it looks great, second, it is great fun and third, it actually does help your child to learn how to read.
When you first load it up your child gets to design their own monster who they will then lead on a quest around various planets doing an assortment of tasks which require them to recognise the shape and sound of letters in the early games, through to full sentences towards the end.
It is brilliant.
Everyone learns better when they are happy and having fun and this game will surely help your little one to learn to read.
Where’s My Water?
A really good fun puzzle game from Disney. It looks great and it is a lot of fun figuring out how to get the water into the bath for Swampy the crocodile. It starts of easy but gets fiendishly difficult the further you get and is a great logic challenge for older children.
My Little Pony Harmony Quest
Fans of the show will enjoy this platform game where you lead the ponies on a quest to free Ponyville. It looks great and the game-play is simple enough that young gamers will be able to work their way through the game.
My daughter played the free version of this before we got the Fire for kids. It was impossible to get beyond a certain point without paying quite a lot to unlock more ponies. So we were both delighted when the version on the Fire for kids was fully unlocked!
Peppa’s Paintbox
Great for young kids and toddlers. This is a simple drawing and coloring game that features Peppa Pig and her friends
Final Thoughts
Remember that Amazon Kids+ content is free for the first year after you buy the tablet, after that, you will need to pay a monthly subscription.
This is clearly Amazon’s strategy to make money from their super cheap tablets.
So, it is worth keeping an eye on what your children use and whether you will get value for money from an on-going subscription. They also offer huge discounts on the standard price from time to time which makes signing up for another year well worthwhile.
If you stop the subscription you run the risk of having grumpy kids that have got used to having endless variety on their tablets. I suspect most people do carry on with the subscription.
One alternative would be to buy their favorite content and add some free apps (although these will probably come with adverts and in-app purchases).
If you can get a good deal on a tablet, Black Friday is your best bet. It could well be cheaper to buy a new tablet than pay for a full price Amazon Kids subscription, and you should be able to sell your current tablet.
Thanks for the article. Because a tablet is lightweight and only takes up a little bit of room, it’s a much better travel companion than your laptop.