Alexa for Kids? Here’s Why This is a Great Idea
This nifty little device answers all of your kids’ questions so you can take a break
The first thing that you’ll notice when you get the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition (4th gen) out of the box is how cute this thing actually is. Once you get over that, there are some important features because it is made for children in a lot of ways more than just having a cute outer skin. There are four buttons on the top and another action button that enables Alexa to listen. The box also comes with a cute little comic guide made specifically for kinds which instruct them on how to use the device and what are all the things that they can use it for. The setup process is remarkably simple: Just select your Wi-Fi network and put in your Wi-Fi credentials and go from there.
But hang on, you might think, extra money for an Echo Dot? For a kid? What’s the deal? Well, let me tell you. Echo Dot for kids is in fact, an Echo Dot like any other. It’s got the exact same hardware as the regular 4th gen Echo Dot, but with some key differences. You get a year’s subscription to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited thrown in which is basically a managed content system for kids through Amazon so you can control things like apps they download, books they can read, the music they can listen to, audiobooks, games, and all of this can be managed through the Amazon Parent Dashboard. It makes things super easy plus makes it seamless for the kids as well. It won’t make them feel like you are trying to control everything in their life, but it still lets them use all this cool tech, play music in their rooms, and have their own games, etc.
If you’ve made it this far, you must be wondering “I don’t want my kids to spend all their time with this device all the time” and that’s a perfectly valid concern. Amazon has a solution for that: One is that you can set time limits for how long they can use anything through Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, but with this Echo Dot, they also let you turn it off at night, so you can say, “Hey Alexa, between 9 PM and 7 AM, I don’t want my kid back here, talking to Alexa all night long, and listening to music”. So that’s really neat and adjustable and a good way to handle things. At the same time, they get fun things like characters from Disney and Nickelodeon and get to interact with all of them. Kids are still into Disney, right? I haven’t interacted with a child in a long time. If you’re a stickler for good manners (now, who isn’t?), the Echo Dot Kids encourages your kid to say please and thank you after they receive an answer from Alexa which is pretty cool in my opinion.
What Amazon is doing here is just giving you tools to help guide them through the whole experience of having all this connected tech. My sister’s kids have had this device in their rooms for a while now and she says it makes listening to music super easy and seamless and lets them pick out their own stuff and what they wanna hear. The real reason, she confides in me, that she bought this device for them is so that there is a seamless way for them to be able to call her if she’s not home and they need something, which is a big deal when they’re not old enough to have a phone of their own. The Echo Dot Kids Edition makes it just as much fun for them, it gives her a fair amount of control over everything, save a tiny bit of money in the process, and everybody’s happy. If you’re looking to buy this device, don’t overthink it.
