We are a family that travels a fair bit, whether it be hopping in the car for a day out or travelling farther afield by train or plane.
The tricky bit about travelling with a young family, is finding something that can keep the kids occupied, but also isn’t too bulky to carry – there is only so much I-Spy that one can tolerate on a journey.
Over the half term break, we were lucky enough to enjoy a short break in Lisbon which not only involved a two hour drive to the airport, but also a 2.5 hour flight and a 60 minute delay.
Last year, we did a long-haul flight with no problem issues, mainly because the kids had their own screens and could choose what films to watch or music to listen to.
Flying short-haul has its own problems. We chose a budget airline who charged extra for luggage in the hold, so we took advantage of the one free cabin bag allowance to save money, but this meant they could not bring the “extra’s” onboard.
We were sent the Fire 7 Kids Edition tablet from Amazon to review, which was the perfect solution to the problem as small enough to fit into our cabin bag and with enough on it to keep the kids occupied for the entire flight.
The technical bit:
The Fire 7 Kids Edition tablet is not a toy, but a full-featured tablet with a 7″ IPS display, 16 GB of internal storage and up to 8 hours of mixed-use battery life. We added a microSD card for up to 256 GB of expandable storage.
Also available is a Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet for an 8” HD display, 32 GB of internal storage and up to 10 hours of mixed-use battery life.
What’s included:
Fire For Kids Unlimited
What makes the Fire 7 Kids Edition tablet unique is the FREE 1 year subscription to Fire For Kids Unlimited which gives you unlimited access to over 5,000 kid-friendly books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games.
They can download the apps they want at no extra cost and without having to bug you for a password and if you are travelling, simply download the games, TV shows and books you want when you have wifi and they will be there for you to use offline.
Apps available include ones by Disney, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street etc, so there is something to suit every taste and there is also the ability to give kids access to selected apps from your own personal library, such as Netflix, YouTube and Candy Crush Jelly Saga.
A Kid-Proof Case and a 2-year worry-free guarantee
The tablet comes with a funky padded Kid-Proof case to protect against drops and bumps, but if anything happens to the tablet, simply send the old one back to Amazon and they will replace it – no questions asked. Ours has already survived a couple of drops!
Parental Controls
The best-in-class parental controls are super easy to use (even a techno-phobe like me can use them), help to manage usage limits and content access as well as helping to set educational goals.
I have set the kids up with their own age related profiles, so they only have access deemed suitable for their age group.
The Amazon Parent Dashboard comes with Discussion Cards which enable parents to discover the titles their kids enjoy and connect with them through rich conversations about these titles.
The dashboard is well laid out for parents with lots of straight-forward and useful settings. It’s easy to set up bed times and when the tablet can be used in the morning and it’s also good to be able to limit usage of different aspects of the tablet, such as different times allowed for games, videos and books.
I am an Amazon Prime user and have previously purchased some kids films. These were easily popped onto the tablet, although we did have to add a memory card to boost the storage allowance.
The Amazon Fire Tablet Kids edition has an RRP of £99 for the 7″ version and £129.99 for the 8″, but keep an eye out for Amazon Prime Days as they often have brilliant offers on them
Having owned two Kindle tablets myself in the past which have now been passed down to the boys I don’t know what possessed me to buy an Android tablet for my daughter. We have had nothing but trouble with hers and often find that the parental settings are less than secure. We are looking to buy her a new tablet for her birthday this Summer and your review has confirmed that we shall be getting another Kindle.
I wouldn’t be without our tablet for taking on holidays for the kiddies to have films on hand to watch to make the journey go smoother. These, with their kid proof cases look great for them to have one each. Prevents the arguments over what to watch!
These seem fantastic for younger kids! My daughter is just about to turn 13 and has an iPad as it’s great for her school work but my 5 year old stepdaughter keeps on wanting to use it so I think we may just buy her one of these so she has her own x
I personally find long haul flights easier with little ones because of the amount of in flight entertainment on board. These amazon fire kids tablets look perfect for short haul flights though and definitely a space saver.
This looks perfect for travelling and I love the case…mine definitely need something robust like that
We would be lost without ours now, the kids love them and have all kinds downloaded with my permission of course, it means i can have a quite half hour before bed most nights while they watch someone opening kinder eggs on youtube! lol
the year subscription sounds like a great selling point to me – and that you can monitor what they are watching
Thanks for this post. My youngest got a tablet for Christmas, and I know now that we haven’t taken the time to set it up properly!
This looks very good. A perfect way to keep them entertained
I love how childproof these are, it’s a revelation!
This is great to read! I really want to get my little ones an amazon fire, just saving up!
What a cool gadget. My kids have similar tablets. They are so handy.
Wow! Fire for Kids sounds amazing, and such a great way to keep them entertained on long journies! I love that Amazon will replace them if they get damaged too! 🙂 x
This looks and sounds like a great tablet. My Daughter is lost now she has broken her old one.
My niece has one and absolutely loves it. Perfect for short flights too!
My husband has a kindle fire and he really loves it for reading. I can see why children would take to them as they are very easy to use and keeps you occupied on a long haul flight for sure!
This Amazon Fire table looks and sounds great and it is just what i need for my fiery toddler.
Oh I really want one of these for my daughter. She doesn’t go on technology that often, but we do travel a lot and I think something like this is so perfect for entertaining, especially on flights. I love that there are lots of books for them to read and interactive games. Evie’s almost 4 so I’m definitely going to look into getting her one of these for her birthday. x
I think if these were available when my siblings were growing up it would have helped loads on long car trips. Thanks for sharing!
I think we have a found something for the kids for our next trip. I like that it has the microSD card expandable storage. Cheap and easy to find. Thanks for sharing!
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