Tablets are incredibly appealing to children: when they spot one, they get excited and plead to use it, even just for a few minutes. And when it’s time to shut them off, they cry like waterfalls.
Giving a tablet in the hand of a child, however, involves a certain amount of responsibility: you have to be careful about the content it displays, the applications it downloads and the amount of time it spends in front of the device screen.
Right below we had listed out the best tablets for kids for you.
Tablets for Kids Buyer Guide
Children’s tablets are not all the same; I just told you. They can have different sizes, prices, and technical characteristics. To find the one that’s right for you (and your kids), take five minutes of free time and read the directions I’m going to give you.
I assure you that, in no time, you will learn to evaluate tablets intended for children and to interpret all their technical characteristics correctly: you don’t have to be an IT expert to do it!
Software and Language Functions
We have just talked about hardware features, but what matters in children’s tablets is software. There must be games suitable for the age groups to which the device is addressed, educational applications, and advanced functions, such as parental control, thanks to which parents can choose which content to display and which not to their children.
It should be noted that many tablets for children are equipped with customized versions of Android, the well-known operating system available on many smartphones and tablets intended for “adults.”
This means that “below” a simplified interface for children remains the possibility to access the Play Store and download any type of app, even those not suitable for children (and here the game enters the parental control).
If you want to get a clearer idea of the type of interface that you can find on Android tablets for children, take a look at Wawa, which is one of the most used interfaces on devices of this kind (especially those that are not “branded”).
We must also pay attention to the language in which the operating system user interface is translated: many devices are produced by foreign companies and have menus in English, or translated “in half” with some items in Italian and others in English.
The same speech, alas, also applies to games and educational apps, so before buying a tablet, also be informed about this aspect (just read the comments on Amazon or other online stores).
Construction Materials and Impact Resistance
Children’s tablets are made to be resistant to shocks, scratches, and falls. They also have rounded edges, made of rubber, which avoids the risk of damage to small users in the event of accidental impacts.
Make sure that the device you are interested in reflects all these features. Otherwise, you risk making it break after a few days of use by your children!
Technical Features
Children don’t care much about tablet performance. If the device takes a second, two, or three to load an application for them, it makes no difference. However, before concluding a purchase, try to thoroughly analyze the technical characteristics of the device you are about to purchase.
Also, because buying a tablet with too poor performance will make it impossible to run a variety of games and applications, contents that are of interest to the little ones, and how much they interest!
The components you need to look at to evaluate the performance of a children’s tablet are the same ones you need to look at when buying an adult tablet.
- Display – the screen of a children’s tablet should be judged by its size and resolution. On the dimensions, there is not much to say: knowing that most of the tablets intended for the youngest have dimensions between 7 ″ and 9 ″, you need to buy the device that is considered most suitable for your needs taking into account portability and ease of use. A larger screen is more comfortable to use, but obviously also more cumbersome. As for the resolution, here is some more detail to be explored. As you may already know, the resolution is what determines the sharpness of the content displayed on the screen. It is measured in pixels and, consequently, the higher the number of pixels is reproduced on display and the greater the sharpness of the contents displayed on the latter (the pixels, to put it in simple words, are the “dots” that make up the content displayed on the screen ). The most common resolutions in the field of children’s tablets are the following: WSVGA (1024 x 600 pixels), HD (1280 x 800 pixels) and Full HD (1920 x 1200 pixels).
- Processor – the processor is a bit like the brain of the tablet. It is the one that performs the calculations and, consequently, the overall performance of the tablet depends on its power. The processor can have one or more cores, that is, one or more computing units that divide the work, and their speed is measured in GHz. Put simply, the more cores and GHz there are, the more responsive the tablet should be in everyday operations.
- Ram – RAM is the memory where data from applications in use and system processes are temporarily hosted. By buying a tablet with a large amount of RAM, you will have the reasonable certainty that there will be no unwanted blocks or refreshes in the transition from one app to another. The minimum RAM recommended today in a tablet is 2GB, but in some cheap children’s tablets, you can be content with even 1GB.
Internal memory – the internal memory (also called storage ) is the one that houses the tablet operating system, and that allows you to permanently store apps and data, therefore photos, videos, documents, and more. It can be fixed or expandable via microSD memory cards. It is good to underline that the size of the internal memory indicated by the manufacturer (e.g., 16GB or 32GB) never corresponds to the real space that the user has available to save apps and data, from that quantity of storage, you have to subtract the space which is already busy with the operating system and apps that are pre-installed on the tablet (and we are talking about several GB of data). - Cameras – children’s tablets are not designed to create very high-quality photos or videos. However, if you are interested in this feature, know that many of them include a pair of cameras – a rear and a front for selfies – which allow you to take both photographs and videos. I repeat, do not expect the photographic quality of a top-of-the-range camera phone or tablet, but you can pass it on in terms of photos and videos.
- Battery – kids tend to “stick” in front of tablet screens, which is not good. However, it is also not a good thing to buy devices with limited autonomy that seriously risk interrupting game sessions or learning on the most beautiful. In light of the above, before buying a tablet to give to your children, get informed about the autonomy of its battery. To evaluate the battery runtime, you need to inquire about its capacity, which is expressed in milliampere-hours (mAh) (the more mAh there are and, at least on paper, the longer the autonomy of the device), and you have to read reviews in which shows the real performance of the device in everyday activities.
- Wi-Fi Support – almost no children’s tablet has 3G / 4G connectivity, while many of them include support for Wi-Fi networks. This means that they can be connected to the Internet and can be used to download various types of content from the large network.
Bluetooth support – tablets with Bluetooth support can be connected to external accessories, such as wireless headphones, keyboards, mice, and more. - Doors – the provision of ports is also important in a tablet. Apart from the inevitable 3.5 mm headphone jack, you can find micro USB ports for charging and connecting USB devices and HDMI outputs for connecting to external monitors and TVs.
For more information on the technical characteristics of the tablets and the evaluation that must be given to each of them, I invite you to read the in-depth analysis that you find in my post on the best tablets of the moment.
