Kids today use tablets for all kinds of things. Playing games, reading, and learning activities. Some school districts are even going as far as to issue tablets to students in every grade from kindergarten through 12th, reports Bloomberg Business.
If you’re considering taking the next step and getting your child a tablet of his/her own, one of the first things you are likely to consider is cost.
Tablets, especially the iPad, can get pretty expensive. And while it’s great that kids today are so tech savvy, not everyone wants to go out and drop $300-$400 on a tablet for their toddler. Especially considering their toddler might then go and drop the tablet off a table.
Thankfully, there are a number of good affordable tablet options available for your child that will keep him/her occupied, entertained, and educated.
According to Digitaltrends, the best tablet for kids under $100 is the Amazon Fire HD 6. In fact, the Fire HD 6, which was also named one of the “Top tablets for Your Kids” by PCMag.com, may not just be the best tablet under $100 for kids. It might be the best tablet on the market at that price for anyone.
Available for just $99, or five monthly payments of $19.80 from Amazon, the Fire HD 6 has a compact size that makes it easy to handle for small hands and ideal for children who might find a larger tablet cumbersome. The tablet’s small size also makes it easy for mom to stuff it into her purse when its time to go.
The Fire HD 6’s features include:
One of the big advantages the Fire HD 6 has over other kids tablets is the ability to appeal to a wider range of age groups. While some tablets are aimed squarely at kids age 3-9, the Fire HD 6 is a tablet your child can grow into.
Amazon also offers a subscription-based service for the Fire HD 6, called Free Time. Available for just $3 a month, Free Time gives the Fire HD 6 the look and feel of a tablet designed for kids, although for less money and with a broader feature set than the Amazon Fire HD Kids edition.
With Free Time, the tablet’s OS (operating system) can be instantly transformed into a more kid-friendly design, while also granting parents the ability to monitor and determine what sort of content is available to their child. And if you’re worried your kid may be spending too much time on their tablet and not enough time outdoors, you can use Free Time’s time-limit feature.
The Kindle Fire 6 features Amazon’s latest operating system, Fire OS 4 Sangria. Sangria OS allows you to go one step further with managing the settings for your kids.
With Sangria, it’s possible to create individual user profiles for parents and kids. That means instead of having to go into settings to switch the tablet into kid-friendly mode, you can just create a separate profile for your kid. Amazon installed this feature in order to make the Fire 6 more shareable among families, CNET points out.
There’s also a Kids Edition of the tablet available that comes with an unlimited subscription to Free Time along with a protective case and a two-year replacement plan. According to Amazon, if your child should break the tablet, they will replace it for free.
Bear in mind that opting for the Kids Edition is more expensive at $149. But when you consider the value of an unlimited Free Time subscription and the option of getting the tablet replaced for free should your child drop it, it might be worth considering.
The Amazon Fire HD 6 is a fully functional tablet that can be converted to kid-friendly use and back again with ease. At less than $100, it has a high level of functionality and its compact size makes it ideal for children.
The Free Time feature and other parental controls allow parents to monitor and control how kids can spend their time when using the device.
While the Amazon Fire HD 6 is a good, affordable tablet for kids, it’s not perfect. CNET criticized the Fire HD 6 for it’s “lackluster plastic construction.” Also, like other Amazon Fire tablets, the Fire HD 6 doesn’t grant access to the Google Play store.
Instead, the Fire HD 6 provides access to the Amazon app store, which offers an abundance of games and apps for kids, although not quite as many as Google Play.
Another nice feature of the Amazon Fire HD 6 is that unlike kid-specific tablets, it can stand in as your own backup tablet when needed. The Sangria OS with its multiple profiles make it easy to switch out of kid mode and catch up on the Huffington Post or check your emails when your own tablet is out of juice or sitting at home.
Today’s tablets are as much a part of growing up as crayons and coloring books once were. Using tablets helps children learn and develop tech savvy at an early age that could serve them well as they get older. If you’re looking for an affordable tablet for your child, the Fire HD 6 is definitely worth checking out.
