Want to know more about the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition and whether it’s worth buying for your child?
We now have two Amazon Echo Dot Kids speakers – one is one of the older versions (which came in a panda or tiger design) and the other is the brand new 5th generation version in the dragon design.
You can also purchase the 5th generation in a green owl design.
This cute little speaker is a fun screen-free toy for kids packed with cool and educational content.
It is a child-friendly version of Amazon’s Echo Dot – featuring access to Alexa but with child-safe content and no ability to order from your Amazon account using verbal commands and one-year free access to Amazon Kids+.
It’s your Amazon Kids+ subscription that will unlock lots of great content for your child – including audio books, games and music.
Quick verdict on the Amazon Echo Dot Kids
Do we think the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition is worth it? At age seven my daughter has enjoyed it a lot but I think she will grow out of the Kids+ content within the next year or two. However her younger sister is five and will get much more use out of her 5th generation Echo Dot.
Having said that my eldest daughter has mainly used it to play music – such as her favourite Katy Perry songs and tunes from Disney movies. Amazon Kids+ does have some music on it, but not the latest popular tunes like Amazon Music.
You can only get the latest hits with an Amazon Music subscription, so it’s worth considering whether you actually need to get the Amazon Kids Echo Dot and its one year Amazon Kids+ subscription or if you could make do with the simple Echo Dot.
Essentially the differences between the Echo Dot and the Echo Dot Kids Edition are: the look, the price and the one-year free subscription to Amazon Kids+.
Is it worth buying? My kids now each have one and they love it, and have enjoyed the Kids+ content. But it’s playing music in their room that they love the most.
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What is the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition?
The Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition is the kid-friendly version of the Echo Dot speaker.
Kids can ask Alexa questions, helping them with homework or just asking for fun facts and jokes. There’s lots of fun content for children via the Amazon Kids+ subscription.
You need the Amazon Kids+ content to get the most from the speaker, if you want to do more than just play music.
The Kids Dot comes with a year’s free subscription but after that you need to pay. The normal cost is £3.99 after the year is over or £1.99 if you have Amazon Prime.
As a parent you have peace of mind that only child friendly content and music can be accessed via this Dot, and you can control it via the Alexa app.
What age is it for?
The Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition is largely for younger children of 3-8. I’m basing that on the type of content you will find in Amazon Kids+, such as Numberblocks and Alphablocks, The Gruffalo and Disney stories.
However you can use the speaker to play Amazon Music, Apple Music or Spotify, as long as you have subscriptions.
Key features of the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition
- Comes in owl or dragon design
- In the box – Echo Dot Kids speaker and mains power cable.
- 1 year free Amazon Kids+ subscription
- The purpose of Amazon Kids+ on the Echo Dot is to provide them with age appropriate content, so you don’t have to worry about them having it in their room.
- As part of Amazon Kids+ you get over 100 kids Audible books, 10 ad free radio stations plus some cool extra audio content. That includes Alphablock and Numberblocks, Harry Potter’s Wizarding World Book Quiz, Disney Stories, Gruffalo Move workout.
Check current price of Amazon Echo Dot Kids now
Setting up the Amazon Echo Dot Kids
Simply plug the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition in and connect to your phone via bluetooth.
You will need the Amazon Alexa app – which is great for monitoring what your kids are listening to on the Dot and also helps you to get through the set-up process.
Follow the instructions on the app to get it set up on your wifi network and get your Kids+ subscription going.
The whole process takes less than 20 mins.
Once plugged in the blue light comes on at the base and your child can speak to the speaker and request that it play content.
How does the Echo Dot Kids work
There are four buttons on top of the Echo Dot Kids – volume up and down, mic off and the round action button can be used to connect to devices via bluetooth (press and hold for 15 seconds).
If in doubt, kids can say “Alexa, I’m bored” and it will provide random options for them to use. However it can be quite hard to find content on Dot.
You can also pair it via bluetooth to your phone to play music from your other subscription services or playlists on your other devices.
You can set alarms, waking your kids up with kid-friendly sounds like Frozen and Ben 10.
My daughters have particularly asking Alexa questions via the Dot. For example you can ask it what is the tallest building and what is the biggest animal.
You can also unlock funny things like asking it to burp or fart or asking it to be like a teenager.
They can also ask for Disney hits, kids party and nursery rhymes if they want to listen to music.
But if your kids want popular hits like Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran they need some kind of music subscription service or to pair your phone or wherever you have music downloaded via bluetooth to play through the speaker.
Amazon Music is not included with Amazon Kids+. My kids love listening to Disney soundtrack songs from Encanto and Katy Perry, so having to pay extra for that is a consideration.
Parental control
You can access the parental control dashboard via the Amazon Alexa app on your phone or the Amazon website. You can switch off their access to Amazon Kids+, lower the volume and pause the device.
This also tells you what they have accessed, which is great if you want to just monitor what they are doing with the Dot.
The app also gives you ideas for what to do with Alexa via Alexa Discover. This is useful as obviously the speaker is screen free and so you may struggle with inspiration for what to ask it. Having prompts in the app helps.
What are the key differences between the Amazon Echo Dot and Echo Dot Kids Edition?
The Kids version looks more fun for kids with the cute owl or dragon design. The Kids version comes with the one year free Amazon Kids+ subscription, plus a 2 year worry free guarantee.
You can add Amazon Kids+ to your normal Echo Dot, and you get a one month free trial when you purchase.
You can still filter out explicit language on music and podcasts via the Alexa app, even with the normal Echo Dot.
So really this can come down to cost and look – the one year free subscription is tempting especially if you buy the Dot Kids while Amazon has a sale on, which they do several times throughout the year.
Amazon Echo Dot Kids pros and cons
Pros
- Kid-friendly content
- Big selection of audible books
- Cool content from popular characters like Harry Potter and Numberblocks
- Control from the parent dashboard on the app. You can pause and limit access, and monitor what they have accessed
- Looks cute
Cons
- After 1 year you need to pay monthly subscription to keep Amazon Kids+
- It’s tricky to discover content. You can tell Alexa “I’m bored” but you really need to check via the app for ideas
- It is a more expensive version of the normal Amazon Echo Dot, Kids will grow out of it by around age 8 and just want to play the music and won’t want to use Kids+
Final thoughts
I think the Echo Dot Kids Edition is good fun and I love the range of Amazon Kids+ content and the way kids can ask it questions to get fun facts. Plus there’s a good choice of audible books on there.
If your kid will love that then I recommend it, but if you purely want to be able to play music for them then the normal Echo Dot may be better and certainly is the best option for kids over 8.
My biggest criticism is it’s hard to find content without checking on screen first.
I was surprised when I Googled what you actually get with Amazon Kids+ on the Dot how much there was on there. If you don’t know to ask Alexa for it, you may not find it.
As a result my daughter has largely used it for playing music, so I could have simply got her a normal Echo Dot. The key advantage of having the kids version is I feel secure with her using it in her room, as she cannot access inappropriate content and I can see what she has been playing.
In a few years time I would probably opt for the Echo Dot with clock face for my kids.
We have the Amazon Fire Tablets for kids and I find my kids have spent more time playing on these than they have enjoying the Echo Dot Kids content.
