So, Amazon is coming out with an Echo Dot for kids. My first reaction was why...why do children need an Echo with Alexa. But once I thought about it a bit this is genius.
Let me tell you why. I have an Echo. I didn't think I needed one, I kind of ended up with it. But now that I have it I love it.
And when I thought about what I use it for the most it's when I am entertaining guests, and this usually includes lots of kids. I have three children under six, and when it comes to them and their friends, they love to play with the Echo. They love telling it what to do and requesting music. They've quickly perfected the art of yelling at "Alexa".
It's so much easier for the kids to tell my Echo what song they want to hear than to try and tune a radio, find it on the TV, operate a CD player, or do it from my phone with Spotify (which is what I use). They just yell "hey Alexa, play Ghostbusters" and they are on their way.
I hooked my Echo up to my Sonos sound bar and we can play music loud and the kids can do it too. So yeah, I am thinking this Echo Dot for kids is a great idea once I found out what it comes with.
From Amazon:
- Now Alexa is a kid-friendly DJ, comedian, and storyteller — and she’s always getting smarter. Just ask and Alexa will play music, answer questions, read stories, tell jokes, and more — all with younger ears in mind.
- Up to $109 in savings on Echo Dot (Black), 1 year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, and a kid-friendly case, plus a 2-year worry-free guarantee—if they break it, return it and we’ll replace it for free
- The included 1 year of FreeTime Unlimited gives your kids access to hundreds of hours of fun and educational content, including ad-free radio stations and playlists, Audible books, and a growing list of premium kids skills. After one year, your subscription will automatically renew every month starting at just $2.99/month plus applicable tax. You may cancel any time by visiting the Amazon Parent Dashboard or contacting Customer Service.
- 1 year of FreeTime Unlimited gives you access to over 300 Audible books for kids, like Beauty & the Beast and Peter Pan, thousands of songs, and kid-favorite games and skills from Disney, National Geographic, Nickelodeon, and more
- Easy-to-use parental controls in the online Amazon Parent Dashboard let you set daily time limits, review activity, or pause Alexa on the device
- Automatically filter explicit songs from Amazon Music
- Call kids to dinner or tell them it’s bedtime from compatible Echo devices anywhere in the house—without having to raise your voice
- Kids can access FreeTime Unlimited content across multiple devices. With the 1-year subscription, FreeTime Unlimited offers access to over 13,000 kid-friendly books, educational apps, games, movies, and TV shows from top brands like Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, Amazon Originals for Kids, and more. Content is available on Fire tablets, Kindle, and Android phones or tablets.
So what do you get with a Kids Edition Echo Dot vs a regular old Echo Dot?
The main items are a year of FreeTime Unlimited. I used this with our Fire tablets and find it very worth it. It's nice not having to search for safe content and having it all in one place. There are ad free radio stations for kids included for the first year as well as Audible books for children.
The Kid edition also includes kids skills from Disney and others and special alarms for the kids. The kids protective case and the two year worry free warranty (which I have used with our Fire tablets!).
Conclusion
While you don't need a Kids Edition Echo Dot, I cannot see any downside and only positives here. Reading the reviews I see a few kinks that need to be worked out but I know from experience that Amazon will take customer feedback seriously.