Amazon has launched the Amazon Kids Tablet 8 and the Amazon Kids Tablet 11, a new Android tablet line built specifically for children. Both are open for pre-order now. Pricing starts at $229.99 for the 8.7-inch model and $329.99 for the 11-inch model. The line is pitched at two age bands, ages 3 and up and ages 6 and up.
This is a separate product family from the Alexa Tablet lineup Amazon announced earlier. Each Kids Tablet ships with a kid-proof case in the box. The smaller model gets a soft bumper, the larger one a slim hard case. Amazon is selling them with licensed character designs, including Paw Patrol, Barbie and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Amazon Kids Tablets: pricing and availability
- Amazon Kids Tablet 8: from $229.99
- Amazon Kids Tablet 11: from $329.99
- Pre-orders: open now, direct from Amazon and select retailers including Best Buy and Target
- Shipping, first wave: October 14 in the US, Mexico, Canada and Japan
- Shipping, second wave: October 19 in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain
Specifications
Amazon’s announcement details the two models unevenly. Here is what the company has confirmed for each.
Amazon Kids Tablet 8
- Display: 8.7-inch
- Storage: 64GB
- Battery: rated by Amazon at up to 14 hours of video playback
- Case: soft bumper, included
Amazon Kids Tablet 11
- Display: 11-inch, described by Amazon as 2.5K
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Input: stylus support
- Case: slim hard case, included
Both models
- Software: Android, with parent-managed access to Google Play rather than open Play Store access
- Parental controls: Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard for screen-time limits, content filters and activity monitoring, via a companion app on iOS and Android
- Services: one year of Kids+ included
Storybuilder and the AI question
The marquee new feature is Storybuilder, part of Kids+. A child speaks their ideas for characters and plot. The feature then turns that into a picture book or comic the child can share with a parent. Amazon says the experience has “guardrails” to keep it age-appropriate.
Worth being clear about what that means in practice. Storybuilder works by taking a child’s voice input and feeding it into an AI system that generates the content. Amazon’s guardrails claim is the company’s own description of its product, not the finding of an independent safety audit. Parents weighing this should treat it as a feature to supervise, not a settled safety guarantee.
The Kids+ bill after year one
The included year of Kids+ is the part to diary. Once it lapses, Kids+ costs $7.99 per month for Prime members and $8.99 per month for everyone else. That works out to roughly $96 or $108 a year on top of the hardware price.
Storybuilder lives inside Kids+, so the headline AI feature is part of what you stop getting if you let the subscription end. Set a reminder for a few days before the free year runs out, and decide then rather than discovering the charge on a statement.
Source: Amazon
