When it comes to offering technology for kids, Amazon has well and truly nailed it. So much so that I can’t understand why other companies haven’t tapped into the lucrative market of parents doing anything to keep their little humans entertained for more than five minutes.
It’s not just Amazon’s Fire Tablets that have child-friendly options, which include very rugged cases that quite literally bounce off the floor when they inevitably get dropped.
But Amazon has also offered child versions of its popular Echo Dot speaker since 2018. The latest Amazon Echo Dot Kids models arrived towards the end of 2022 in the form of an Owl and a Dragon, replacing the Tiger and Panda that went before them, and my kids are obsessed.
Amazon Echo Dot Kids: At a glance
Amazon Echo Dot Kids: Design and setup
I’m not sure the Amazon Echo Kids speakers could be much cuter. My six-year-old daughter has the Owl, and my four-year-old son has the Dragon and they really are gorgeous.
They have the same solid build quality as the standard Echo Dot (5th generation) aside from their playful designs, so it’s quite clear — even to the smaller people in my house — that they aren’t toys. You only have to pick them up to know that.
There’s a light ring at the bottom, which sparks great excitement in my kids every time it lights up, whether it’s after they’ve said “Alexa” and harped a command, or when I’m calling the speaker (a feature called Drop In) from my Echo Show downstairs to tell them dinner is ready.
On the top, there are easy-to-use controls for volume, mute and an action button, while a power port sits at the back. This is one of the only downsides of the Echo Dot Kids as, like the standard Echo Dot, it requires constant power.
It means you’ll need to put it near a plug and there isn’t always a free one of those in a child’s bedroom or playroom, especially when you factor in night lights. If the Echo Dot Kids had a built-in night light, it would be practically perfect.
The setup is nice and simple out of the box, which is what you want because if your kids are anything like mine, they’ll want it working before you’ve even plugged it in.
You’re taken through everything in the Alexa app, including setting up the subscription-based Amazon Kids+, which you get free for a year. The only extra thing you will need to do for the best experience is enable some of the premium skills in the Alexa app that are included with Kids+, like Alphablocks, Disney Stories, Gruffalo and Barbie, among plenty of others.
Amazon Echo Dot Kids: Sound and performance
Like all the other Echo speakers in Amazon’s portfolio, the Echo Dot Kids will play music and read audiobooks, as well as allow your kids to play games, ask Alexa questions and help with homework.
All of that of course needs somewhat decent audio, though a six-year-old probably isn’t going to expect pitch-perfect performance. Mine certainly doesn’t. She just asks Alexa to play Frozen on repeat or play games, while my son mainly just asks Alexa to make fart noises. It shouldn’t be funny to me as an adult, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t laugh.
Still, the Echo Dot Kids has the same audio performance as the standard Echo Dot (5th generation), so it delivers far above what its target audience would expect. It also means you’re left with a decent smart speaker should your kids tire or grow out of the Owl or Dragon in the future.
You can decide if you want your children to be able to control smart home devices on their Echo Dot Kids through the parent dashboard in the Alexa app. Useful if they have a smart light in their room for example, and you can also set daily time limits here and manage approved contacts. The entire experience is excellent.
My kids love the Echo Dot Kids for stories, playing the Alexa kids games like Happy Shopper, and playing their favourite music (which is a disaster for my recommended playlists), all of which they generally manage on their own.
I love the Amazon Echo Dot Kids for how unbelievably cute they look in my kids’ bedrooms, being able to “Drop In” (like an intercom through Alexa-enabled speakers) from downstairs, and to set alarms so they can work as a smart alarm clock.
I’ll also let you in on a secret: the alarms on Echo Dot Kids can be customised so you can get Olaf from Frozen to wake your kids up in the morning, or a range of other characters. It is fabulous.
Good Housekeeping’s verdict on the Amazon Echo Dot Kids
The Amazon Echo Dot Kids might be a little more expensive than the standard Echo Dot (5th generation) but you get Amazon Kids+ free for a year. That in itself is worth £60 and it’s excellent, with plenty of age-appropriate (3-12 years) content that’s automatically filtered by the age of your child’s profile.
The parent dashboard makes sure you have control over other elements too, like contacts and time limits, while the ability to set alarms and call the Echo Dot Kids from another Alexa device is convenient and fun.
All-in-all, there is very little not to love about this cute little speaker. The design and build quality are both fantastic, the sound performance is great (even if kids won’t care), it’s easy to set up and use, and there’s plenty to keep kids (and adults) entertained for hours. If you have curious little ones, I can’t recommend it enough.
Britta O’Boyle has been a technology journalist since 2003. She’s covered everything from phones, tablets and fitness devices, to smart home, and beauty tech. You’ll find her name on reviews, explainers, roundups and expert tips, covering Apple, Google, Samsung, Sonos, Dyson and many more.
She’s always tried to take a more simplified approach to products, focusing on what she thinks actually matters in use, rather than getting caught up in the jargon. She was one of the first journalists in the world to try Apple’s Vision Pro headset, she’s gone behind the scenes at Peloton and she can give you more than 40 fun facts about Mac.
Britta has a First Class Honours degree in Fashion Journalism from the University of the Arts London and prior to a 10-year stint as deputy editor of Pocket-lint from 2013 to 204, she wrote about interiors for 3 years, covering the rise in technology in the home.
As a freelance journalist, she co-founded The Disconnekt and she’s Editor-at-Large for The Ambient. You’ll also find her byline on several prestigious titles including The Telegraph, British GQ, The Express, The Mirror, TechRadar, T3, Stuff, TechAdvisor, Trusted Reviews, Expert Reviews, Wareable and iMore.
She’s also been a guest on several radio stations, including BBC Radio, Siren FM and Academy FM, discussing features to implement on devices to keep children safer online. You’ll never find her without her Apple Watch on (usually alongside another fitness tracker she’s testing), aiming to complete her rings so she can justify the extra bar of chocolate. When she’s not recording the dog walk as an Outdoor Walk, she’s trying to keep up with her two young children.