Parenting in the digital age comes with a unique set of challenges our own parents didn’t have to worry about. As a parent of three myself, I find myself constantly navigating the delicate balance between allowing my kids to embrace the wonders of the digital world and shielding them from potential online hazards. The days of an entirely unplugged childhood may be a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to hand my children unrestricted access to the vast expanse of streaming sites and online games on the open internet.

What I am ready for is a solution that prioritizes both their entertainment and safety. Enter Amazon Fire Kids tablets and Amazon Kids+, a subscription service tailor-made for kids like mine. Let’s delve into some of the features that make Kids+ a game-changer for our tech-savvy parenting journey.

1. Kid-Safe, Ad-Free Content

Amazon Kids+ offers thousands of ad-free games, videos, books, podcasts, music, apps, and exclusive Alexa skills from brands like Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, and Marvel. It also includes original shows like Angry Birds Mystery Island, LEGO Monkie Kid, Hello Kitty: Super Style!, and Blippi’s Treehouse.

Fire HD 10 Kids Pro

All of this comes with an easy-to-use Parent Dashboard where you can configure age-appropriate settings, set screen time limits, monitor some of your child’s activities, and find age-appropriate content. You can also choose to allow access to an expanded selection of apps and games that includes content not just intended for kids, like Netflix, Zoom, and Minecraft.

Amazon Kids+ gives me kids access to everything a kid wants in an online experience and nothing a parent doesn’t.

2. Tablets Designed With Your Kids In Mind

Santa is bringing my kids the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet this Christmas. The Pro is perfect for kids 6-12, and I’ve got two of those. The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro has a 10.1-inch display and a super long battery life, and it offers ad-free content, a filtered web browser, and plenty of parental controls. The upgraded front camera allows for video calls with pre-approved contacts. What sold me was the slimmer case. It doesn’t look like a tablet designed for little kids, so it’s middle-schooler-approved. It also comes with a free one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.

3. Alexa-Enabled Devices Just For Kids

Amazon Kids+ is more than a service for kids to use on their tablet; using Amazon Echo Pop Kids, we can access practical features like pre-built morning routines to help things run a bit more smoothly around here. Echo Pop Kids looks like a cool speaker with Disney Princesses or Marvel superheroes on it, but it’s so much more! It’s a kid-specific way to unlock the power of Alexa, everyone’s favorite voice assistant. Kids ask Alexa literally 25 MILLION questions a month, so it makes sense to give them access to a kid-tailored experience.

With Amazon Kids+, my kids can call Barbie or Santa or ask Alexa to tell them a joke or read them a book. Of course, they can do it using their Echo Pop Kids, but they can also safely use any Echo device in the home. I can even create an Alexa voice ID so that Alexa will recognize my child’s voice and tailor their experience to the parental controls I’ve put in place.

4. Curated Learning Experiences

I’m super pumped about introducing my kids to Quests — a new gamified way for kids to use their Fire kids tablets to go deeper on a subject they love through a curated set of content arranged around certain themes. I already know my oldest will choose to explore Space, and my middle child will want to know more about Math and Phonics. The littlest is a toss-up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she decides her first Quest will center around Arts and Crafts. A Quest includes a set of books, videos, apps, and more; as kids progress on a Quest on their tablet, they will earn rewards and badges.

Fire HD 10 Kids Tablet

With the new Explore with Alexa feature, an Amazon Kids+ exclusive feature, kids can learn about animals using an interactive, conversational experience on their Echo Pop Kids or other Echo device. The responses are chatty, friendly, and engaging, and they encourage kids to continue to explore. And don’t worry — using integrated generative AI, Alexa will steer the conversation away from any inappropriate topics, ensuring safe learning. (And sparing you from having to learn 486 new facts about whale sharks just because your five-year-old has decided to do a deep dive.)

5. A Way To Stay Connected

While Fire Kids tablets give my kids a lot of independent learning and entertainment opportunities, I love that it also offers features like Play Together. Kids can choose from nearly a dozen fun games, like Memory Match, Sketch-N-Guess or Math Claw Machine, and invite their trusted adults to play, too. Kids open the game on their Fire Kids tablets and invite their adults across the room or across the world to play on their mobile devices.

For years, I’ve used Amazon to make my life easier, whether I’m streaming my favorite Christmas movie, scheduling pet food deliveries, asking Alexa to set a cooking timer, or reading a book on my Kindle. It makes sense to continue to use Amazon to introduce my kids to the ways technology can enhance their routines, playtime, and education. Amazon Kids+ is a safe, kid-centered way to do just that.

Get Amazon Kids+ free for a year with the purchase of a new Fire Kids tablet, or add a subscription for only $4.99 a month with a Prime Membership. No membership? No problem — non-Prime members can get a monthly subscription of Amazon Kids+ for just $7.99.