Not all of the best tablets are great options for kids. I should know, looking at my graveyard of smashed slabs. The best child-friendly tablets have to be durable, versatile, and come packed with the kinds of apps and games that inspire a kid to learn and have fun — not to mention the critical importance of child safety settings.
That's why I test and review dozens of tablets every year, but only a few are considered for this list. That's because they've got to do everything above while offering good value for money, because just like school uniform, kids grow out of them and you'll be looking for something a little more advanced.
My top picks
The 2022 Apple iPad is my top recommendation because it's cheaper than the latest iPads, but offers nearly all the same features for kid-friendly education and entertainment.
The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids is effectively a version of the Fire HD 10 that's tailored specifically for kids aged 3-7. A super durable case, and a ton of entertainment and learning with Amazon Kids+.
Same as the Kids edition, but a little sleeker and more refined for children aged 6-12 — complete with its own tailored suite of apps, games and content via Amazon Kids+.
To help you buy the best kids tablet for your needs, here are some key questions to ask.
Are there safety and parental controls?
All the tablets in my list have built-in parental controls to limit screen time and restrict what content is seen. Always be sure to check what these are before buying. For example, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro has a phenomenal suite of options to tweak specific to every child who uses it.
How durable is it?
All too often, tablet makers focus on making their hardware slim and sleek, but don't really think about the fact that a kid is clumsy. Check for a sturdy case and a good warranty. Amazon's Fire HD 10 Kids is the best on this list for that purpose — offering a 2-year warranty and a chunky shockproof cover.
Is there a lot of kid-friendly content?
Kids get bored easily (I know firsthand with my nephew). So is there a lot of stuff available for a child to watch, play and learn? Out of these three picks, for the sheer wealth of child-friendly apps in the app store, Apple's iPad reigns supreme.
So whether you're on the lookout for a big slab to distract your younger kid with Bluey, or you need an all-in-one slate for homework and entertainment, here are the best tablets for kids that I recommend right now.
I may not have kids myself, but I have an incredibly boisterous nephew and I'm well-versed in the art of putting a tablet in front of him for some peace and quiet! Of course, there's a lot more to what makes a tablet amazing for kids beyond that, which I can take you through with my years of experience.
The best tablets for kids you can buy today
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The best tablet for kids overall
Who is this for?
The 2022 iPad is a great all-round tablet for kids of all ages. There are other tablets on this list that are more directly catered to certain age ranges, but if you wanted to make one purchase and accessorize with different cases as they grow up, this is the one to buy.
Why is it the best overall tablet for kids?
Looking beyond the design (which will just be covered up by a case to protect it from clumsy moments), the three superpowers here are its big and bright display for all your kid's needs, impressive performance and power efficiency to keep running on long journeys, and the amount of child-friendly experiences you can find on the App Store. And all of this comes in at a good price of $299.
What do we like?
👍 A14 Bionic performs well for kids: I could go into the strong Geekbench multi-core score (4,400 to be exact) or the 51.4 FPS the iPad achieved in our 3DMark gaming tests. But what you need to know is the A14 Bionic is zippy enough for zero temper tantrums while using it, and with nearly 11 hours of battery life, long enough for those big journeys.
👍 Apps and accessories to match your child's imagination: With any child-friendly tablet, you want to not just distract them from eating broccoli, you want to inspire learning and creativity. From Lego Duplo world to Crayola Create and Play, the options are endless in iPad's app store. And on top of that, the optional Magic Keyboard or Apple Pencil can take that creativity one step further when the time is right.
What don’t we like?
👎 An expensive bet: I know I mentioned the cases to protect your iPad, along with the $299 price being good value for money as a whole. But if you need something quick and cheap to do the job, there are cheaper options on this list that aren't a potentially fragile combination of aluminum and glass.
Bottom line
The 2022 iPad is a great one-size-fits-all tablet for kids — providing the child safety controls and content needed to entertain and inspire younger children, all the way up to the power needed to run more advanced games and homework apps when they get older.
Read our full iPad 2022 review.
The best value
Who is this for?
Looking for a cheap and cheerful tablet that's got enough going for it to keep the kids entertained during the times they need to be quiet? Look no further than Amazon Fire 7 Kids edition.
Why is it the best value tablet for kids?
$109. That's it. That's the reason. Well, it's actually $54 right now over on Amazon, but I'm being a little ignorant of the many other reasons this is the best value tablet for kids. From its 2-year worry-free guarantee ensuring replacements if they're broken, award-winning parental controls, and a 1 year subscription to Amazon Kids+ content, this is a fully thought-out package for children.
What do we like?
👍 Speedy for the price: That Quad-core 2GHz chipset with 2GB of RAM is more than enough for the many books, games and learning apps your child will interact with — all without any signs of slow down or performance hitches.
👍 Decent battery life: With nearly 7 hours of battery life in our testing, this small tablet can go for a while on one charge — perfect for road trips that can get a little long and boring.
👍 A case that Amazon has confidence in: Amazon has worked hard and iteratively over years to land on the Kid-Proof Case you see here. With a good amount of heft for drop protection, and an adjustable stand for hands-free use. Oh, and if your kid does manage to break it, Amazon's 2-year warranty is pretty open-ended on this — just return it and get a free replacement.
What don’t we like?
👎 Dull display: With a 1024 x 600-pixel resolution and 370 nits of brightness, this is a dim, fuzzy panel that isn't too colorful either. Not the best for bringing out the yellow in Big Bird's feathers.
👎 Watch out for ads: Out of the gate, you've got Amazon Kids+ free for a year — giving you access to great entertainment and educational content from the likes of Disney, Lego and National Geographic. This subscription also stops ads from being served too. So if you're using this beyond a year, you've got a choice to make: $5.99 a month, or a deluge of ads.
Bottom line
For grown ups, the Amazon Fire 7 is the best tablet at this price point, and that goes doubly so for kids. Amazon has put a lot of time and attention into its hardware design (especially the case) and paired it with a huge library of content to keep the little ones entertained and inspired.
Read our full Amazon Fire 7 review.
The best tablet for younger kids
Who is this for?
The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids tablet has been purpose-built for children aged 3-7 years old — from its ultra durable and colorful hardware construction to the tailored OS with engaging apps and robust parental controls.
Why is it the best tablet for younger kids?
With a specific focus on younger kids, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids tablet is a fantastic option for any child to grow up with — packing enough performance and battery life to keep that 1080p panel going for a long time, comprehensive child safety controls for setting limits, and all the entertainment your kids will love from the likes of Disney and Blippi's treehouse.
What do we like?
👍 Kid-proof from all angles: Yes, this is a big 10-inch tablet, but Amazon has pulled out all the stops with its Kid-Proof case, parental controls to set screen time limits and restrict apps, and a dense library of content catered to every year, so the tablet actually grows with your child.
👍 Performant and power efficient: To limit frustration, you've got to make sure its zippy and lasts a long time. While Geekbench scores (1,523 multi-core) may fall well behind iPad, the 2.0GHz octa-core processor is more than enough for the far more simplistic OS you get in the Fire HD 10 Kids tablet. Plus, this slab can last over 14.5 hours on one charge.
👍 Big, bright display: The 10.1-inch display is a true eye-catcher with color and brightness — paired effectively with loud and clear speakers. The bass production is poor, but from personal experience with my nephew, a kid is going to miss that bassy warmth when watching Paw Patrol in the car seat.
What don’t we like?
👎 Limited app selection: Just like the HD 7, you get a year of Amazon Kids+. The content selection is wonderful for kids, but beyond the Kids+ subscription, Amazon's tablet app library is extremely constrained.
Bottom line
Just like buying clothes for your kid, you need a tablet that fits but has room to grow. The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids tablet does just that for children aged 3-7 with a purpose-built OS and hardware that your kid will love to be entertained and educated by.
Oh, and by the way, you can pick one up for $80 off the list price for Black Friday.
Read our full Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids review.
The best tablet for older kids
Who is this for?
For slightly older kids aged 6-12 years old, that's where the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet comes in. The case is slimmer, the OS is tweaked to allow for more advanced interactions (while keeping those robust parental controls), and Disney, Marvel and lego are all part of that Amazon Kids+ subscription.
Why is it the best tablet for older kids?
For the kids growing up and getting used to using tech/expanding their horizons of learning/being inspired by the gadgetry they use, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro Tablet is a respectively powerful slab with storage to take your films and TV shows on the go.
What do we like?
👍 Big, bright display: With a 10.1-inch 1080p display, this is a big, bright and colorful canvas for your kids to interact with. Whether it's jumping into all the age-appropriate Amazon Prime Video content or the apps and games built into the Kids+ service.
👍 Enough under the hood to do more: It's still not iPad-levels in terms of power, but for the limited amount of tasks that are possible on the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro Tablet, the Octa-core chip is fast enough for keeping apps running at a smooth 60 FPS with plenty of multitasking capability too — say for when you're flipping between a word processor for your homework and Duolingo for learning foreign languages. Oh, and did we mention this has over 14 hours of battery life in our testing!?
👍 Award-winning parental controls: Amazon goes on about the controls being award-winning a lot, but what that means in practice is so much more important when it comes to older kids. Those guardrails are critical in this transitional phase of a kids life, and being able to fine tune them along with screen time use limits too has limited my sister's anxiety when it comes to making sure my nephew stays safe on the tablet.
What don’t we like?
👎 Limited app selection: At this point in a child's development, sometimes what you need to do isn't necessarily going to be a purpose-built education app or a storybook. You need the ability to get stuff done, and the productivity side of Amazon Fire tablets has always been a bit of a weakness.
Bottom line
Moving on to the next size up in terms of fit, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet is a slim, sleek-yet-durable, feature-packed tablet for children aged 6-12. Parental controls are a godsend for nervous parents, the performance and power efficiency makes this a valuable companion for road trips, and the options to add a keyboard mean the Fire HD 10 Pro can come along for homework too.
Read our full Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro (2021) review.
Battery life compared
Battery life is one of the key things to consider when buying a tablet, and you can't always trust manufacturer claims about how long they'll last on a single charge and you don't want a kid's tablet to die halfway through a trip.
That's why we put every tablet we test and review through a series of battery tests, then average the results and compare them against the competition. I've assembled the tested battery life of every tablet on this page here in one handy chart, to help you make a more informed buying decision.
How to choose the best tablet for kids
Still not sure which tablet is right for the kid(s) in question? Here are some important things to consider, things we also consider when choosing which tablets to add to this list from the many we review every year.
Screen size: Tablets come in a variety of screen sizes ranging from 7 to 10 inches. If you expect your kid to be watching a lot of videos, they'll want the biggest, nicest screen possible, so consider the Fire HD 10, the iPad, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7. But if you just want a tablet a kid can use to browse the web and read ebooks, a smaller display, like those on the Fire 7 or Fire HD 8, will be more than enough for your needs.
Battery life: Every tablet we recommend on this list lasts at least 8 hours or more in our battery tests, so you can count on good battery life. But if you want something that can really go the distance, look for tablets that last 12 hours or more in our testing, like Samsung's Galaxy Tab A7 or Amazon's Fire 10 Kids tablets.
Budget: You can spend anywhere between $50-$800 on a tablet for kids, or more if you splurge on extras like a stylus or keyboard cover. Generally we recommend you not give a child something more expensive than you're willing to pay to replace when they break it. So the older and more trustworthy they are, the more you may be able to justify spending. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 is great for older kids since you can often find it on sale for under $200, and the 2021 iPad costs under $400 new if you can find it, though the more expensive newer models (which start at $449) are also faster.
Younger kids might be better served by the $200 Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids or HD 10 Kids Pro tablets, since they come with kid-friendly extras like durable cases and 2-year warranties. If your budget is in the $50-$100 range, the $50 Fire HD 7 or the ~$100 Fire HD 8 are good, no-frills Amazon Fire tablets that offer decent performance and Amazon's in-depth parental controls.
Age: How old is the person you're buying this tablet for? Obviously if it's for you and your family, buy whatever you like, but if you're getting a tablet for a specific child, there are a variety of kid-friendly options depending on their age. For those ages 3-7, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids offers decent performance, great parental controls, and a colorful drop-resistant case. The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro offers effectively the same benefits for the same price, but it's aimed at older kids in the 6-12 range. And if the person you're buying for is older than that, they should be well-served by the standard Amazon Fire HD 10, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7, or the basic iPad.
How we tested these tablets
First, we run as many benchmarks as that tablet will allow, to see how fast they are in ways that can be compared directly against competitors. We say "will allow" as some tablets, like Amazon's Fire slates, have trouble with side-loaded Android apps. We then use colorimeters and light meters to measure how colorful and bright these tablets’ screens can get. After that, we put them through our in-house battery test, which times how long it takes — while surfing the web with brightness at 150 nits — to drain a tablet of a charge.
After that, we do the same things you do — browse the web, watch YouTube, play games, compose emails — and then a lot more. We also try and write some (or all) of our tablet reviews on the tablets we're testing, especially if there's a keyboard attachment available.
