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Best Overall
Apple iPad Mini (2021, 6th Gen)
Best Android Tablet For Kids
OnePlus Pad
Best Budget Kids Tablet
Fire HD 8 Kids Edition (2022)
Best for School
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3
My Children’s Favorite tablet is a good flat rock. Get the right one and it’ll do everything from launching toy cars to hop-skip-jumping its way across a pond.
Of course, as a WIRED reviewer, there are also plenty of digital tablets in my house, and they’re pretty popular at times too. After years of testing, we’ve tried almost every kid-focused tablet out there. These are our favorite picks.
If you’re still hunting for kid-related educational ideas, check out our favorite kid podcasts, some fun ways to help kids learn, and our guide to the best STEM toys.
Updated May 2024: We updated our picks to include the latest models, removed the now discontinued iPod Touch (sniff), added the Kobo Libra Colour for comics, and updated prices throughout.
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Photograph: Apple
Best Overall
Apple iPad Mini (2021, 6th Gen)
The iPad Mini strikes the best balance between size, weight, and content available for kids. We suggest setting it up with the stand so your kids don’t drop it, but overall the Mini is compact and perfect for watching the wealth of online kids content. Apple has thus far not created a kids content ecosystem, which ironically makes iOS the best platform for accessing everything. Amazon Prime, PBS Kids, and Disney+ all have iOS apps. (This is a matter of taste, but we very much dislike all the advertising on YouTube Kids and the endless upselling of Google Kids Space.)
It can be unnerving to let a child have control of $400 device, though. It’s expensive and pretty large for younger, smaller hands. If you have younger children who might have trouble holding the Mini, our next pick is for you.
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Photograph: OnePlus
Best Android Tablet For Kids
OnePlus Pad
If you want a quality tablet that’s not an iPad, take a look at the OnePlus Pad (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It’s the first-ever tablet from the phone maker, and it runs Android 13 out of the box, so there are a lot of improvements in making the Android experience on a tablet really great. Like the iPad, it can be tough to hand an almost $500 tablet to a kid (see below for a cheaper pick), but if your kids are older I think this works well. It’s not a bad way to get school work done, and the battery has excellent standby time and can get through close to a full day. It’ll get three years of OS updates and four years of security updates, so it’s reasonably future-proof. Our main complaint is the lack of headphone jack.
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Photograph: Amazon
Best Budget Kids Tablet
Fire HD 8 Kids Edition (2022)
Amazon’s Fire tablets are an affordable alternative to iPads. In addition to decent hardware, Fire tablets include one year of Amazon Kids+, the company’s content subscription service for kids, which makes it easy to find age-appropriate games or apps for your kids.
It used to be a simple recommendation: Grab the Fire 8 Kids Edition. But recently Amazon introduced a Pro version of both the Fire 8 Kids Edition and the Fire 10 Kids Edition. The main difference between the pro and regular versions is the content available by default. We’ve tried both versions and recommend the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition ($150) for younger kids (think 8 and under). The Fire HD 10 Pro Kids Edition ($200) is better suited to older kids, who will be more comfortable holding it and will benefit from the slightly more mature content included by default with the Pro version.
Buying into the Amazon ecosystem does limit you to Amazon content, but the selection of books, games, and videos in Amazon Kids+ is varied and includes some gems. You can filter and monitor it to your heart’s content via Amazon’s parent dashboard. And their two-year worry-free warranty is unbeatable, especially if your child tends to smash or drop things and you need to replace it. Also note that Amazon frequently puts these on sale for as much as 50 percent off. There’s no reason to pay full price unless you really need it now.
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Photograph: Best Buy
Best for School
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3
Many school districts will provide your child with one, but if yours doesn’t, Chromebooks are our top pick for kids in school. This Lenovo is a good pick for younger kids. It’s powerful enough to handle a decent amount of web pages, play videos, and run kids games, and the detachable keyboard means they can use it like a tablet when they need to. Chromebooks can also run many Android apps, though sometimes they don’t quite work as well as they would on a tablet.
Older kids (say fifth grade and up) might benefit from a more powerful Chromebook like the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 ($500). We like the Acer 515 for its speedier processor, extra RAM, and SD card slot. Check out our Best Chromebooks guide for more options.
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Photograph: Amazon
Best for Reading
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids
As with most Amazon hardware, the kid devices are worth the price for two things: the content and the warranty. The Kindle Paperwhite Kids has a two-year, worry-free replacement guarantee, a cute case, and a year’s subscription to the Amazon’s Kids+ platform, which sorts through Amazon’s huge selection to present your kid with age-appropriate characters and themes. You can somewhat control this content selection through the website interface.
It’s very easy to white-list free library books into your kid’s profile. With tons of free books available, a safe, secure Kindle might actually save you and your bookish kid money in the long run. You can save $50 by opting for the regular Kindle Kids ($120), but the screen isn’t nearly as nice as the Paperwhite version.
If you don’t want to join the Amazon ecosystem, or if your kids are really into comics and graphic novels, we like the Kobo Libra Colour (8/10, WIRED Recommends) for its color E Ink screen, which handles comics much better than a Kindle. At $220 it’s a bigger investment and probably best suited for older, more responsible children.
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
Best For Video Calling
Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen)
I’ve picked the Echo Show 8, but any Smart Display you already own is probably the best way to do video calls with relatives. That way there’s nothing to hold up (calling with a tablet works just fine, though the grandparents might see more of the ceiling fan than your kids if your kids get tired of holding up the iPad). The third-generation Echo Show 8 is the middle child in Amazon’s Show family and it’s a good size for the kitchen or living room. We also like the Google Nest Hub Max. It’s a good all-around smart display with a 10-inch touchscreen a decent camera. It dropped support for Google Meet and Zoom last year though, so you’ll have to use Google Duo for your video calls.
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Photograph: Stephen Simpson/Getty Images
Prep Your Pad
How to Set Up Parental Controls
When considering which device is best for your child, you’ll want to take price, durability, ease of use, and safety into account. We find Apple devices to be among the easiest on which to set up parental controls. Simply get your child their own Apple ID, set up Family Sharing, add them as family members, and set rules for them.
Amazon’s tablets for kids come in a close second. It’s easy to log in to the Parent Dashboard on Amazon.com to change age filters and to block or add content. But no matter the device, there are safeguards you can take to protect your kids from coming across inappropriate content. We walk you through how to childproof your devices and streaming services here.
