Bickham Family: Kindle Fire for Kids Subscription Review
For Christmas, we bought our eldest son an Amazon Kindle, as he would be going to work with my wife in the mornings and he needed something to keep him occupied before starting Pre-School.
Included with Amazon Kindle was a 1 year subscription to Fire for Kids Unlimited that offers unlimited access to books, videos, apps, and games chosen by Amazon.
When you register the Kindle you can choose the parental controls such as limiting time on the Kindle or access to the internet. You can also choose the appropriate age of your Fire for Kids subscription which includes 3 to 5, 6 to 8 and 9 to 12. As our eldest is 4 we chose the 3 to 5 option, although we have allowed him to download some games from the higher age bands such as LEGO Batman and LEGO Harry Potter.
Here's the official blurb about the service...
Fire for Kids Unlimited lets kids explore a world of age-appropriate content on their own. Parents don't have to spend time (and money) guessing what their kids will enjoy. There are no ads, and no in-app purchases in Fire for Kids Unlimited content.
- A world of content for kids to explore within a completely kid-friendly environment
- Promote reading and maths with educational apps and hundreds of books
- Easy-to-use parental controls - choose what content each child sees, and set educational goals and time limits
- Personalise each kid's experience with profiles, and let them watch what they want to on Fire Tablets, including the Kids Edition tablets
- Great for kids between 3 and 12 years old
Once set up the Kindle displays content aimed at the selected age range and allows your child to choose which apps or games they want to use. There is no requirement for authorising purchases or in game content which means children are free to explore. It is very child friendly and our son has no problem selecting his favourite games and playing them.
The content included is fantastic there are lots of games and popular characters, the brands include the Avengers, Batman, Disney and many more. Although our subscription is currently free, we will be signing up after the 12 months at a cost of £3.99 per month as the content available is fantastic. If you have Amazon Prime that subscription comes down to £1.99 a month or £4.99 for up to four children to use it at once.
If you did wish to allow internet access, then in the parental controls you can turn on the web browser to allow access to age-appropriate YouTube videos and websites curated by Amazon. You can add access to more sites and YouTube videos should you wish.
Our son loves the Fire for Kids and being able to choose the apps and games that he wants to play.
