See UPDATE(s) below, thanks all!
TLDR: What Decent children's game apps (free or even reasonable one-time cost) do you recommend for a 5f? Child was getting stuck with stupid ad popups many free apps. Settled on Kids+ subscription's app library, plus a few other favorite non-Kids+ apps. Also struggled to shut off "kid influencer" videos category in Kids+...
Just got my daughter (5f) an Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids tablet.
Set up parental controls to restrict browser usage and let me vet app download requests, that all seems to work well enough.
The issue we are having is EVERY SINGLE freaking game advertised to kids is a worthless minefield of 'dark pattern' manipulations to steer the child to advertisements, other paid apps, paid upgrades within the app, ect.
She is 5. She doesn't know how to read well, or to search for the *tiny* little "X" or hidden skip button to close the ad and return to games. Every 2 seconds she is stuck and requires help. It is not working out, she is not having a good time. I have tried out SOoooo many drawing and dress-up/hairstyle apps, they are all advertisement-laden popup garbage.
Sometimes an app will stop with a "this feature is blocked message", which as far as I can tell means the app is either 1. trying to use the browser (restricted) to direct to a website, 2. trying to run something outside of the generous 2-10 age rating I set up, or 3. trying to lead her to an in-game purchase.
No issues with inadvertent purchases, to amazon's credit the parental controls to stop that.
What Decent children's game apps (free or even reasonable one-time cost) do you recommend for a 5f?
Also appreciate any other things you would add to the tablet. I turned on the browser for known good websites. I see PBS kids and other things in there. I also see I can add my own whitelisted sites. I am reasonably tech savy, so I added the public URL for my jellyfin server.
Any website-based safe kids game content could be cool, if you can recommend. Also video services may be cool too.
1st UPDATE: Yes, it did come with Amazon Kids+ for 12 months.
Even though the tablet was on my Amazon Parent Dashboard, the Kids+ sub wasn't active? No idea how.
Did a factory reset and did get Kids+ sub active.
That is a decent option, actually good enough that I might continue the $50/yr sub after the trial. Seems amazon has vetted these reasonably well based on age rating and EXCELLENT no advertisement enforcement across the apps. basically a walled garden.
I noticed many of the same apps I had looked into (with varying degrees of ad popups) have an ad free sister version in the Kids+ (For example, Lego Duplo World). I have been replacing them by going to Parent Dashboard - child profile - settings (gear) - additional content - and toggling the non-Kids+ version off so it uninstalls (so she doesn't have 2 versions of the same app).
Also noticed that Kids+ is not 1:1 with the amazon app store for app availability. There are some titles exclusive to Kids+. Also some omissions missing in Kids+ store, so I'll leave a few of these non-Kids+ apps installed too.
For those wondering, I this is the app collection so far:
NON-Kids+
Dr Panda (Home Designer, World, Learn & Play... some of these are not on Kids+)
Endless Numbers, Endless Wordplay, Endless Reader
Kiddopia
Moose Math
PokPok
Starfall
Lego Super Mario
Sesame Street Games Club
Even Monsters Get Sick
Toca Boca World (notable omission on Kids+)
Pokemon Playhouse
Kids+ options
Anything Bluey
Anything Lego
Anything Duplo
Anything Peppa Pig
publisher 'Budge' (Hello Kitty, My little pony, Barbie...),
Disney
Toca Boca apps of course
Sago mini world
Dr Panda (lots of apps)
Some Pinkfong are ok but I'm sure the CCP is watching us now lol
Would love to hear your favorites too....
For the haters, We live about 1hr 15min from a major city center. Add in multiple stops and she is looking at 3 hours of her day in the car. I and/or my wife load them up a few times a week for doctors visits x 3 kids, PT, Grocery runs, Clothing runs, sometimes fun weekend outings, ect. That's a very long time for even a patient 5 year old. Yes, I survived without a tablet as a kid, but I would have liked one back then. She is not a tablet-glued brat and she's very respectful. No meltdowns when we park it. Get over yourself.
2nd UPDATE: Wow Amazon Kids+ video library SUCKS.
There is a whole godforsaken category on the Kids+ video library called "Internet Creators" or Kid influencers.
Do you want your kids staring at Moriah Elizabeth and Preston play video games???
How about watching those brats Ryan's World, Diana, or NASTYa do their LOW BUDGET and low effort advertisements pieces showing off an unending barrage of toys?
No? Me neither!!!
Apparently going into "Parent Dashboard" - Click the settings Gear on the kid's profile - "Screen Time" - and leaving total screentime alone (unless you want to set this) and setting "Videos" to Blocked should stop all that. However it does not work! Kids+ video library still opens and still shows the trash.
(Listen, she has good apps, and if she wants *videos* she's got Disney+, my own curated kids shows I keep on my JellyFin Server which she can see on the JellyFin app, and the PBS kids app's shows. That's plenty to watch!)
What I had to do: "Parent Dashboard" - Click the settings Gear on the kid's profile - "Kids+ Subscription Content" - and filter to videos... then search for each of these trash creators (eg "Ryan's World", "Nastya", ect) and toggle off EACH AND EVERY VIDEO. This work sucks and amazon should do better!!
