I wanted to get my 2 year old daughter a tablet for Christmas. I hoped to find a tablet that was durable, easy to operate, good quality, and an affordable price. I found it in the Kindle Amazon Fire (5th edition). With it’s 7 inch display, it is not to small or to large for a toddler to handle. The price was pefect also, at $49.99. I thought this might be too good to be true, so I read the reviews. When it comes to reviews I really like to focus on the reviews that hit pros and cons. The best review was from a Dad with 3 kids. After reading his review, I decided to purchase it. There are several upgrades and extras you can order with the Fire, I didn’t get anything extra when I initially ordered it. I thought about the warranty, but decided to skip it. My plan was that my 2 year old (almost 3 year old) would be monitored at all times while playing with it. It would not be carried around, or lost somewhere in her room or toy box. I think it’s an excellent idea to purchase the warranty, I just chose to skip it (hopefully I don’t regret that later).
I got my daughter’s Kindle Fire in the mail a couple of days later. I don’t have Amazon Prime, but I signed up for the 30 day free trial, because I knew I would be ordering from Amazon all the way up to Christmas and I wanted to see if I liked it. I was impressed with the little tablet immediately. The size was perfect for her. With Amazon Prime she can watch quiet a bit of shows and movies free. I did notice that with TV shows they kind of tease you with a season or even an episode or two, then you have to pay extra to see the rest. We have a Netflix account, so I put that on her tablet and set it up to my account. The quality and sound were impressive for the price and size of the gadget. I really liked it! I set up myself as the main user, requiring a password. You can set up multiple users with different settings. I set up my daughter as a user, which does not require a password to get in. She has child settings, I choose the apps she can use, and she can not purchase anything without being stopped. This is great for the in app purchases. Her settings are also user friendly for a child. I downloaded several games, checking each one out to see if she was capable of understanding them. There were a few games that I had on my IPhone that I found in the AppStore, so I downloaded those knowing she would be able to play them. The camera on the tablet is low quality, but she won’t care or know the difference.
On black Friday the tablet was on sale for $34.00, so I ordered one for myself. I was that impressed with it, plus you really can’t beat that price. I also ordered a 32 GB SD card for my daughter’s tablet. I knew we would need extra room for storage, and in the future we could put movies on the card and play them on her tablet.
My daughter got her tablet for Christmas, and she loves it. I did not sign up for Amazon Prime, but she is enjoying her tablet without it. Prime does provide more options, but she is plenty entertained without it. She has Netflix for a lot of shows and movies. I will probably sign up later on, but I had other expenses that were priorities at Christmas time. So far I have not had a problem with the battery life. I plug it into the charger every evening. Granted, she does not play it all day long, she only plays it for an hour or 2 a day. Sometimes more, if it’s the weekend. I think if you are going on a car trip, and want to keep your child entertained for a long period of time, take the charger. I would recommend buying this tablet for your child and an SD card for extra memory, you will need it. I think I will purchase a case next for my daughter’s tablet next.
