Get a Huge Amount of Content for Kids in One Place With Amazon FreeTime
I always think about ways to keep track of my toddler’s screen time – not necessarily in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality. Does he watch shows that are appropriate for his age? Should he read more books? How do I make sure he doesn’t stumble upon weird YouTube videos ? Amazon FreeTime , an online subscription service offering age-appropriate digital content to 10 million children ages 3-12, aims to answer these questions for parents.
How to get FreeTime for free
Amazon FreeTime content and parenting tools are free with a compatible device. This includes the Amazon Fire Kids Edition tablets, which range from $ 99 to $ 129, or Kindle e-book readers, but FreeTime has also expanded to Android phones and tablets, and on Google Play earlier this year. Whichever you choose, the service allows your child to watch whitelisted videos, books, apps and games, while dedicated parenting features offer a dashboard, discussion cards, and the ability to create goals and time limits based on activity. and use. In-app purchases and social media platforms are excluded.
Pay extra, get extra features
If you buy FreeTime Unlimited – with a monthly payment of $ 2.99 per child and $ 6.99 per family – you get access to much more: 15,000 selections from well-known brands such as Disney, PBS Kids, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street. DC Comics and more. Bonus: Any purchase of a tablet for kids automatically gives you an unlimited year of free use.
How to set up FreeTime
Setting up a profile for my 2 year old son took about five minutes. In the Smart Filters section, I chose an age range of 2 to 4 for the content, which resulted in familiar territory: truck books, Daniel Tiger episodes, and anything that emphasizes letters and numbers.
This was intentional, according to Kurt Beidler, director of child and family affairs at Amazon. FreeTime’s editorial team has partnered with Common Sense Media to find a balance between educational and entertainment content designed for specific age groups – 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 years old – to meet the different needs and interests of users, rather than trying universal.
“The danger of taking everything on the Internet and blocking or filtering things out is a mole game that is hard to resist,” Beidler told me. “When we added a child-safe web browser a few years ago, we took a completely different approach: we only add websites that we personally viewed and that we know are safe and free of ads and ads.”
He checks the content for you.
As a parent using kid-friendly technology, I need three things: convenience, easy-to-use tools, and accessibility . FreeTime is pretty cheap for so much content in one place on the go, especially if you’re already a Prime member. Even though I feel a little overwhelmed at times with the many subscription services, this is something I would prioritize as a parent, especially with kids between the ages of 5 and 10.
More importantly, FreeTime cuts down on the time and energy you can spend checking digital content. You can manually add your own data in addition to whatever is provided, but I appreciate that FreeTime does all the prep work.
“Our editorial team reviews and labels each video or app with the appropriate age data,” says Beidler. “For example, if you set the age to 3-5 and your child logs in, all he sees is content suitable for children 3-5, not math apps or books about sharks or zombies. If you set the age from 9 to 12, your child will be able to log in and see what is interesting and exciting for him, not Elmo and learning the alphabet. “
Books for children Same as e-books for adults
Videos and apps may seem like the most popular, but Beidler says books remain a key section of content. Over the past few years, more than 600,000 books have been read on FreeTime due to the improved quality of books, he said, which adds up to over 470 million reading hours. Customer feedback also prompted the team to add an offline feature that allows kids to access videos without Wi-Fi. It sounds simple, but given the streaming world, it indicates Amazon’s desire to meet parents where they are – literally.
From my point of view, FreeTime does for children’s books what e-books do for adults: it makes them easier to transport on the go. I love that books are an integral part of FreeTime because that means my husband and I can just grab the device knowing it’s full of books, instead of having to carry a huge bag with us and then worry about keeping track. Plus, like most kids, my son has little attention, so the sheer number of books (along with the rest of the content) means he can scroll and scroll to the delight of his heart – and I can relax knowing that his small mind in safe hands.
Discussion cards help you keep the conversation going
The phrase “parental control” sounds authoritarian, but Beidler says these features are really about transparency, networking, and educating families about technology habits.
You can view your parent dashboard by logging into parent.amazon.com , where you will see recent activity, such as the most recently opened books or videos, or the type of content studied in the last week. The discussion cards work like mini-guides to help parents learn about the concepts their children are using, Beidler said. Daily goals and time limits can be set for each child based on hours of use, bedtime, days of the week, activity time, or total screen time.
My son is a junior user, so naturally some of these features are not needed yet. However, I gave him free rein on his tablet to play with, and was later surprised to find how much I enjoyed seeing what caught his attention. I also did not expect how discussion cards could breathe new life into those same old favorites – for example, we read Kota Pit a hundred times, but the suggested question prompts and interactive actions made it feel like a whole new story. In our family now, we mainly want to set an example that books are fun, and FreeTime only helps us reinforce that mindset.
Goals and timelines tend to be better for older children who need to be reminded to put their devices down before bed, or to prioritize reading over recreational use. (Or, um, an adult like me who needs to open a book before bed, not dive down the Instagram rabbit hole.) You can turn them on or off and customize at any time.
“With my kids, I don’t limit my reading time,” says Beidler. “They can read as much as they want, but if they want to watch videos or play games, they only have 30 minutes a day. You can really adjust to your family’s values or goals, and you can set reading goals for each child that open up access to entertainment content. “
Where FreeTime Can Get Better
FreeTime is a fantastic service for all of the above reasons, but a couple of pain points immediately caught my eye:
- Content is loading slowly. This could be wifi related, although I tested it in a few different places and it took at least a minute to download each book or video when I first opened it. There were no delays in reopening after downloading a piece of content, but if you are used to meeting the needs of most devices immediately, you might want to adjust expectations.
- You must enter your password many times. In short, switching between profiles is annoying. This is not difficult by itself , but you need to enter your password every time. Great for security purposes, frustrating for anyone trying to manage multiple profile settings.
- The camera quality is terrible. Seriously. I didn’t expect the camera to be amazing, but the blurry shots, sharp lens and low speed made me wonder why it even exists.
Given that most customers can purchase a Fire tablet for a free year of unlimited access, it’s also worth noting that it comes with a thick, colorful bumper – perfect for young kids, maybe not ideal for teens who are probably already used to sleek devices of their parents and friends. It looks like you can remove the bumper without too much trouble, but consider which device is best for your child before purchasing the service itself.
FreeTime supports parents who want technology to work for them
Obviously, you don’t need a service to tell you what is right for your child in terms of device use or related content, but a basic set of tools and support will certainly help, especially if you’re just getting started. FreeTime helps parents understand what their children are consuming on the Internet and teaches them how to use technology responsibly.