(Pocket-lint) – The Amazon Kindle has established itself as a leading reading device and where you lot have reading, you lot hopefully have eager children.
Although existent books, on paper, likewise as using public libraries, should be something that all children experience, there’s no denying that a Kindle has something to offer.
Merely a Kindle device, hooked into an Amazon account, offers a groovy bargain of connectivity that you probably don’t desire your child to have. There’s a web browser for starters, likewise as, potentially, your Amazon account through which they tin buy books with wanton carelessness.
Whether yous’re buying a new Kindle specifically for a child, or letting them use one you already have, here’s what you need to consider when setting-upward a Kindle for your kids. Here nosotros’re talking specifically nearly Kindle ebook readers, rather than Fire tablets, although in many cases, the aforementioned information applies. In that location’due south also a specific Kindle Kids Edition which will besides talk nearly below.
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Account decisions
A Kindle needs to be registered to an Amazon account – this is how you get the content onto it.
If you lot’re getting a new Kindle specifically for a child, so y’all need to make up one’s mind whether y’all’re going have it linked to their own Amazon business relationship, or to your account.
A personal account?
If the child/Kindle has a personal account, then that business relationship needs an email address as well equally a payment method, which probably isn’t what you want to exercise. You lot could opt for a pre-paid credit card, however.
Using this means you can take a small value for some initial book purchases without having to worry almost them emptying your bank account. You can e’er summit upward that pre-paid card for future purchases, but this is a rather convoluted approach.
Go on it on your account
If you opt to have the Kindle on your business relationship (or have a child utilize your Kindle/old Kindle/a Kindle Kids Edition), and then you lot’ll have to make sure you use parental controls to ensure they don’t spend on your account, which makes things much simpler. In that location at that place is Amazon Kids and Kids+ – previously called Fire for Kids or FreeTime – to consider as well.
This is how Amazon has actually designed this organisation to take place, specifically to cater for kids in an Amazon household.
Parental controls
Kindle has plenty of parental controls which is skillful place to starting time. If you lot’re giving your child a Kindle, you lot can opt to close off the major access points to the internet: web browser, Kindle Store and Cloud.
Each of these tin be disabled, with parental controls getting password protection. That means you can, for case, disable the web browser and Kindle Store on that device, only leave access to Cloud. Cloud is where your Kindle purchases are stored when non downloaded to a device – information technology’s your complete online catalogue of content.
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You can shut everything off, so you know that your kid only has access to the content on the device and tin can’t go exploring. The Kindle is all the same connected to the internet, there just aren’t any access points from the device.
This is a better option that but turning on Aeroplane manner, because books will still sync, and chiefly, y’all can notwithstanding send books to the Kindle from the Kindle Store on your computer’s browser or phone. You tin can also transport documents to the Kindle using the email address assigned to your Kindle device, for example coursework packs from schoolhouse.
This means you tin put the Kindle in the easily of your child and buy books and take them delivered to their device to read. They will merely appear on the abode page.
The problem with all of this is that – if your Kindle is registered to your account – then all the books you own or buy will and then be bachelor to download to your child’s Kindle through the library, which is where Amazon Kids comes into play.
Amazon Kids
Amazon has a system for children called Amazon Kids. This is, essentially, a locked downwards area specifically for them. Using Amazon Kids means y’all can have “your” adult/parental side of the device fully continued and “their” side safely locked down with only their appropriate content visible.
The name recently changed to Amazon Kids and information technology might be some time before this is reflected across all devices, and so if yous see Burn down for Kids or FreeTime, that’s what it’s talking about – the kids’ area.
Amazon Kids lets y’all setup a child business relationship (or accounts) so assign books to them from your collection. Using Kids means you’re buying those books on your account and sharing them, rather than ownership them through an Amazon account in your kid’s name.
Importantly, however, once you’re in Amazon Kids, you demand a countersign to go out, so it’s a safe surface area for your child.
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From within Amazon Kids the navigation controls piece of work very much as they do elsewhere, and so you lot can even so become home, search, and alter some settings, just it’s all behind that prophylactic bulwark. There are awards and you have a reading target to encourage children to read regularly, if you have a child who works amend with these types of motivations.
Progress through books will also be tracked separately from your reading. If y’all both want to read The Hobbit, for instance, your kid’s progress volition be tracked separately from yours. If y’all just used the same account and were reading the same book, it would be constantly trying to sync that book to the furthest read page, which isn’t platonic when two separate people are reading it.
Importantly, unlike only locking down a device with the parental control settings in a higher place, you however have to assign that content to Amazon Kids for your child – and
this is a primal point. From a practical point of view, you tin can send content to a Kindle devices from a browser – and then if you’re shopping in the Kindle Store when yous purchase something you can elect to send information technology to that device.
Withal, it’s only then on that device, not in the Kids expanse for a child. That then has to be washed on the device itself past the parent. Y’all accept to log out of the child’s expanse, select the books from the library you want to add to Amazon Kids and and then return to the Kids expanse to see all those books in a safe environment over again.
Cleverly, you tin turn on Amazon Kids on a device and leave it in that state most of the time. Restarting the Kindle from with in the Kids surface area sees it returning to Kids: the merely way out is to plug in the password.
The other signal to note about setting up Amazon Kids, is that you’re basically creating those children as users on your account – and those can then be used on other Amazon devices also, similar the Fire tablet.
Nosotros’ve mentioned there are 2 versions of the Kids service – and Kids+ will give y’all child access to a range of content selected by Amazon that’s inside an appropriate historic period range, so that child can find and select their own books. This makes information technology easier because you don’t have to then allocate titles to that child for them to read – simply while the content is safe, at that place’due south no knowing if information technology’due south content your child really wants to read – we talk about that a little more below.
Households and Family Library
Family unit Library is a Kindle characteristic that let you share content with family members. It’s a user-friendly way for you to share or manage the content you lot have and you simply have to buy things once.
To have a Family Library, you need to create a Household. This tin can consist of 2 adults, each with their own Amazon business relationship, and upwards to four children. These child accounts are setup using Amazon Kids.
As a Household can’t have more than two Amazon accounts (notionally 2 parents) it is a disadvantage to have a child’southward Kindle with its ain Amazon account, every bit that 3rd business relationship can’t exist accommodated and yous tin’t share content through the Family Library. (Of course not all Households will accept two parents, or might non take two parents who want to share content.)
Still, once you have a Family Library setup, the ii adult accounts can manage the content the children go access to. That means one adult can buy the content and the other can add or remove it from their own account if they need to.
One time you have adults and children in a Household, it’s actually easy to manage content through a browser. In your account settings > Manage Your Content and Devices you tin can see all your Kindle books and who in your household gets admission to them.
What nigh the Amazon Kindle Kids Edition?
Amazon launched the Kindle Kids Edition very much following the model that it has used for its Burn Kids Edition tablet – information technology’south a standard Kindle, with a case, ii-year warranty and a one-year Amazon Kids+.
The device itself is the entry-level Kindle and at that place are no software differences on this device to any other Kindle – it all uses the same software features that we’ve talked near above. That potentially means that you can save yourself some cash by opting for this Kindle instead of the specific Kids Edition – it is about $/£thirty cheaper.
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However, what the Kids Edition does is bundle in these additional extras. The instance is probably worth about $/£20, while the no-quibble warranty will exist of involvement if you have kids who are likely to break it. Then you accept Amazon Kids+, which gives you a 1-year subscription to kids content. This has unremarkably costs from $two.99 or £1.99 a month – so if that’southward the mode you desire to go, in that location’southward some advantage in ownership into the Kids Edition bundle.
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Amazon Kids+
Beyond the hardware and the software on these devices, there’s also a subscription pick that Amazon offers. Amazon Kids+ is similar supercharging the content on your Kindle and giving y’all access to a range of books for your child that are appropriate for their historic period.
There’southward a cost – and the costs vary based on whether you’re a Prime subscriber and how many kids you want to include – as well as across varying durations, and so in that location are lots of price options.
Only the huge advantage that these subscriptions offer is that they give the child admission to this content, so they tin can browse and notice things to read. If you have an older kid that means yous don’t take to notice all the books, buy them and then give your child access – they can just find stuff to read at their leisure.
The best affair nigh these subscriptions is that they universally apply across both Kindle and Fire tablets (then on the tablet you can access movies or games that are historic period appropriate) and you can then basically go out them to it.
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What’due south the all-time child Kindle setup?
The range of options and approaches means that settings tin be tailored to the age of your child and how much autonomy you want them to accept. For the younger children, y’all’ll want their Kindle registered to your Amazon business relationship, simply with all the parental controls engaged, and then there’due south no access to your account, Cloud or the web browser.
Then you’ll want to employ Amazon Kids for that child. If they are getting their “own” Kindle device, y’all tin and so remotely control the content they get access to. You can gift books by simply buying them and assigning them to their device, but yous’ll have to then manually add them to the child’southward area on the device itself.
You lot remain in command of content at all times and tin can easily remove books that they’ve finished with or outgrown. Importantly, if you’re ownership it through your account, it’s your content and yous can then share it with younger members of the family. As, as a child grows older, using a Household, you tin can all the same share older content in the future you might accept bought for yourself.
Across that, if you accept gorging readers in the family, then a subscription to the Kids+ service is well worth it. Kids’ books are expensive and they will often read them in a day or and then – and then the ongoing access to lots of books is a definite advantage.
Most of the features are bachelor on recent Kindle models, but sadly aren’t yet available through the Kindle apps and some older devices. Yous can check total compatibility here.