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.

You can find the Echo Dot Kids Edition here!

I’ve been waiting to buy an Amazon Echo or similar device because we are in the process of building a new home and I was going to wait till we moved in. But, I did get one for my parents for Christmas and guess what, they didn’t want it!

So, now I have a new echo even though I am in temporary housing for another few weeks. I have had is since Christmas and I love it!

Here’s what I am loving about the Echo so far:

1. Listening to the radio or news. I have been listening to news channels in the morning while getting my kids off to school. In the past the TV would go on, but now I can listen via my Echo and it’s a nice change.
2. Spotify! I love Spotify and it works with the Echo. You can choose via the Alexa app which music service is your preferred service. The music service is set to Amazon music by default but changing it was super easy. Then I can say “Alexa, play this song by this artist” and she will find it. So easy!
3. Asking questions about the weather, traffic, and any other news you would like to know. News updates gather information from various media outlets.
4. You can makes lists, set timers, add items to your calendar and more.
5. You can make phone calls with your Echo as well.

These are all items I have done. There is much more I plan to utilize once we are moved in to our new home such as setting it up to work my Hive smart thermostat, and smart lightbulbs. Using the Echo to control smart devices will take it to the next level for me.

I have also heard you can call a Uber or order a pizza with Alexa but I have not tried this. Another useful feature is ordering items from Amazon directly via voice.

My children also love the Echo. We are staying with friends while our house is built and we have five children under five in this house. Yep, it’s crazy, how to survive this living situation is probably a good idea for a different blog post.

The kids (all of them) have figured out how to work Alexa and enjoy using the Echo for playing music. It’s pretty funny listening to a bunch of toddlers yell at Alexa to play their favorite song.

As far as the speaker, I have seen various opinions on it but to me it’s more than enough for what it does. I have paired it with my Peloton exercise cycle so I can enjoy my rides loud, in addition to all of the other ways I have used it.

My main conclusion with the Amazon Echo is that it's worth the cost. Compared to the new Apple Home Pod it's a much better value (And, I LOVE Apple). I may change my mind in the future if Apple improves their product but for now I am sticking with the Echo. I have also come to the conclusion that I may like to have more than one so we can use it on both floors of our new home.

The Amazon Echo now comes in five colors which you can switch out to match your decor. I got the charcoal fabric and I am happy with it.

You can find the Echo here on Amazon!