Buying a Tablet for Your Kids? 5 Things to Consider (w. giveaway)

Parents who are considering getting a tablet for their child this holiday season may feel a bit overwhelmed with the choices but knowing what options to pay attention to helps narrow the field. In addition to the age of your child, here are 4 things to look for when shopping for tablets this holiday season.

Durability

As adults, we know that we put our gadgets through their paces each and every day. Sometimes they survive the bumps and bruises of daily use without battle scars but we also know that a chipped corner, cracked screen, or broken Bluetooth keyboard is just part of life. But kids are far harder on their gadgets than we are.

Many kid-friendly tablets on the market have rubberized cases built into the design but not all are created equally. To get a sense of how well a tablet designed for a child will perform under duress, visit a store that has them on display and let your child loose. Let them hold it, touch it, and poke it. The sales associate may give you a funny look when you drop it or throw it on the ground (Don’t ask your child to do these things! It sets a bad precedent that this is ok when it isn’t.) but honestly, it’s smart product testing.

Content

We all know about the risk of letting our kids use our iOS mobile devices loaded with free apps with in-app purchases. It only takes a couple taps and swipes before your child has racked up quite the iTunes Store charge trying to advance to the next level on their favorite game. Trust me. It happened to a friend over the weekend.

The best tablets for kids have a wealth of fun and educational content built into the device that prevents the constant money drain of wanting more new games and avoids the dreaded in-app purchase scenario. Look for tablets created in partnership with trusted educational companies for the best content.

Performance

Do you hate sluggish gadgets? I do too and so does your child. Look for a tablet with a fast processor that will allow them to access the content they want quickly otherwise expect the tablet to sit unused. Tablets that use real processors made by trusted names in the computing industry, like Intel, help ensure that the tablet will keep up with your child’s fast rate of tapping.

Safety

How easy is it for your kids to access the internet through their tablet? Take a look to ensure that video and other content lives on the tablet. WiFi enable tablets can take kids to YouTube to view videos and then with a few simple taps or misspelled words serve as the gateway for content that you may not want them to see just yet.

Price

Of course your child wants an iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to be just like you but honestly, those devices are probably well beyond what you want to spend on a device that’s likely to be dropped or possibly lost. These days kid-friendly tablets are available for around $100 and feature a durable design and tons of built in content for kids that’s both fun and educational.

Giveaway!

Win one of 2 ClickN KIDS Tablet 2s courtesy of CNK Digital, creator of innovative, engaging and award-winning digital early education experiences for computer, handheld, and mobile platforms!

About ClickN Kids Tablet 2

If you’ve never heard of ClickN Kids Tablets, here’s the run down on what you need to know:

• Content—CNK Digital (www.cnkdigital.com), parent company of ClickN KIDS, is a worldwide publisher, developer, and distributor of innovative, engaging and award-winning digital education experiences for computer, handheld, and mobile platforms. CNK Digital products and curriculum are being used in all 50 states and by international students in more than 100 countries. As a leader in educational content, CNK Digital has loaded ClickN KIDS 2 with 30 premium games including Talking Tom 2 and Talking Ginger, Diversion & Team Awesome, new educational apps including the newly launched SmartRunners™ phonics and math endless runner games, Learn2Write – Start2Finish™ and the multi-award winning Looney Tunes™ Phonics program. Featuring 100 interactive-reading lessons (a $50 value), Looney Tunes Phonics engages and educates kids with the zany antics of the iconic kid favorites Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, Tasmanian Devil, Tweety Bird and more.
• Durability— Each ClickN KIDS Tablet 2 is protected by a new, extra rugged gel case and is available in eight popular colors offering kids the option to personalize their tablet
• Safety— Kiddoware is the name of the parental control system on ClickN Kids Tablet 2. It features content filtering, built in monitoring, controls to protect your child’s identity, and the ability to prevent them from downloading apps.
• Dual Interface– ClickN Kids Tablet 2 features content for kids and parents on this Android 4.4 OS (KitKat) device. Android apps for parents, Wi-Fi, email and more are only accessible through a password protected interface.
• Performance— The ClickN KIDS Tablet 2 is powered by the Intel® Atom™ Processor Z2520 to provide fast performance and long battery life. It’s also the first Kid Safe Certified learning tablet for kids that features Intel technology.
• Other features— Front and rear facing cameras, 8GB of memory, 7” touch screen HD-quality display, built in WiFi, micro USB port, 5-8 hours of battery life, 5GB of Cloud storage with Google Drive
• Price— $99.95

Where can you try the ClickN Kids Tablet 2 at a store near you?

Test it out at Target, Home Shopping Network and Curacao stores. It’s also available online through Best Buy, Walmart, Office Depot, and Toys ‘R’ Us.

To learn more about ClickN Kids Tablet 2, visit CNK Digital on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and on the CNK Digital Blog.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received a ClickN KIDS Tablet 2 for review purposes. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links are included in this post. No compensation was received for hosting this giveaway.