Is it worth getting a Kindle for kids? 25+ parents weigh in!
I love talking about Kindle readers and every time the topic of Kindles for kids comes up, I get a slew of questions along the lines of “Is it worth getting a Kindle for my child?” or “Will a Kindle mean they never read physical books again?”
I asked parents who have kids with Kindles to weigh in and so many responses came rolling in!
If you’re considering a Kindle for kids, I hope this will help you make the right decision for your family!
(For the record, I’m very pro-Kindle for my own children. They still read plenty of physical books, but a Kindle means they can read at night in a shared room without disturbing a sibling, they can take books on the go when we travel and they have access to the ebooks our library offers. Plus, I can add Audible books from our Audible library and they can listen without needing a tablet or phone!).
I also have a whole post about the Kindles for kids here!
Here’s what other parents had to say about Kindles for kids:
Why Parents Think the Kids Kindle is Worth it!
- We LOVE our Kindles! So much easier to send Libby books to their Kindles than to pick up holds from the library that all come in at different times. Also great to bring on vacation so we don’t have to carry heavy books or worry about losing a library book. Also when we are out and they finish a book, they always have a few books on the Kindle they can re-read.
- We LOVE our Kindle readers. Before we go on vacation I just load them up with kids books. One small device and no bulky books to pack or carry through the airport! Life saver! Even though it’s not in color, my kids still love to read graphic novels on them too. Doestn’ seem to impact their enjoyment of them.
- What do people love about devices? Instant gratification. What does a Kindle give you? Instant gratification. My kids ask for a book and I can check it out immediately from the library and they have it. Or buy it and they have it. We have 2 and our kids fought over them on our last vacation so I’m getting 2 more this sale.
- My three kids love reading on their kindes. They like physical books too. It just depends on what’s available.
- Bought my 7 year old daughter a Kindle because she can burn through mulitple books a day. And we are traveling a lot this summer and I just couldn’t pack enough books to keep her in books. And it has been awesome!!! It fits in her fanny pack and she reads all over the place. And it has encouraged my older son to read more because now he wants a Kindle. Waiting for them to go on sale and going to snag another one.
- I have 3 kids, and the oldest 2 have Kindles. For th 12yo it is a wast of space and I’m glad I got an old one on mega sale. She really only reads graphic novels, and those are rough on Kindles. She uses it to listen to an audiobook once in a blue moon. Kid age 8 uses it sometimes, but we’re doing a lot of traveling soon and I’ve told her that’s the ONLY book she’s bringing. She enjoys reading real books, but I’m not using valuable packing space, so it’s up to me to fill the Kindle with books and audiobooks she enjoys. I love the audiobook feature, and it’s the main reason I’ve kept my audible subscription, bc it’s so seamless with the kid’s Kindles. Personally I could not live without my Kindle. I read off of it every day, and rarely read physical books. Only use the audiobook feature for myself when traveling.
- My youngest is loving our Kindle. (Oldest prefers paper books.) She’s more excited to read on that than a paper book. Taking advantage of library ebooks to keep her excited about reading!
- We bought refurbished Kindles for our two oldest kids a few years ago and they love them! They use them all the time, but they are especially nice for trips. They read in the car or on the place, and when they wake up earlier than us in hotels. Waiting at restaurants. I have never ene purchased a book for them…we just use Libby and there’s plenty to pick from!
- So so great! I can check out books for my voracious reader so he’s never without a book. I also love that I can set it to turn off so he’s not up all night reading!
- We love them! My girl goes through books so fast that having a Kindle is the only way I can keep up with her voracious reading.
- Best purchase for our elementary age son! He feels empowered by choosing some of his own books, I love the Libby connection, and it has been a great tool as he is visually impaired and can adjust the text size as needed.
- My kids (17 and 14) have both had Kindles since they were 10-12ish. Incidentally, they both far prefer reading paper books and their Kindles don’t get much use now. Their self knowledge about their preferences came in the teen years…but they will each pick up the Kindle from time to time. One the other hand, I couldn’t live without my Kindle!!! I LOVE IT!
- My 4 kids (14-8 years) all love theirs! They are especially handy for travel. I will say, they use their Kindles less when we don’t have Kindle unlimited. I forget to use the Libby app for them to have more Kindle books.
- My son is using my husbands for a test run. He’s 10. It’s a huge win for us. We put it on kids more and he is reading more and has access to tons! We’ll be getting one when it’s next on sale!
- They have been amazing for our kids! They read so much on them. It’s easy to take many books when traveling because of it. Our first 2 daughters got them as soon as they were reading early chapter books. Our third daughter is 5 and is already looking forward to having one.
- I have mixed feelings. My daughter seems to love hers and I think she does. Plus it just makes sense for our life (very small home without space for enless paperbacks and also small town library so ebooks give access to much more “stock”. Also in the car a ton!!) but she gets way more excited about physical books and going to library for those and seems to do much more reading like that than on her Kindle.
- I have one kiddo that has it and loves it! He goes through so many books and this makes it easy either way the included books, library books through Libby and buying books. LOVE IT. One kiddo doesn’t have it. He just doesn’t love to read as much yet and an actual book is more engaging for him.
- Two of my kids now have Kindles and we love it! They can listen to audiobooks with them, read books at night without bothering their siblings with a slight, and they still read actual books all the time. I also think that having a Kindle has really reinforced my kids’ identity as a reader. Our 8 year old got one for Christmas and cried when she saw it because she was so happy to have one after seeing her older sister have one.
- I have one and each of my boys has one and Love them! Boys do mostly audiobooks and I use Libby and Kindle Unlimited for books. No regrets here!
- Single best thing I’ve ever bought my kids. 4 starting around age 5 or 6.
- My two kids both have Kindles. We gave them one around age 8. We love them! They read lots of books and listen to our Audible books using the Kindle and bluetooth speaker. I am not a fan of Amazon kids – I prefer to load it up with things we choose. Best tip is to choose the shipping option that gives you free Kindle dollars!
- Love them! My 11 and 9 year olds have had them since they were each 7. They love the, take them everywhere. I am checking out books on libby daily for them. They still love physical books but the Kindle can get books in their hands almost instantly. Instead of having to go to the actual library. Also love that it’s just for reading. My brother scoffs at my kids having them since you can just download the Kindle app on a phone or tablet but I like knowing that all they can do is read on these and not get on any other apps. And I’ve convinced myslef these are better on eyes than a normal tablet (not sure if that’s true). I’ve never actually seen my brother’s kids use their tablets to read…so I feel very good about my choice.
- LOVE them. I thought it was ridiculous to spend that much money, but I was so wrong. They use them constantly. My kids are 9 and 10, we only bring Kindles for flights/trips under 3-4 hours. SO much easier than lugging physical books everywhere. I do find that they are more likely to get into a series if we the first book in paper format.
- We got my 9 year old his own Kindle this summer, and it’s been MAGIC. He loves to read, and always blew through any physical books we get from the library. With his own library card and Kindle, I can borrow ebooks from him on Libby and send them to his Kindle to read. It has been GREAT!
- I have a Kindle and my 8 year old has had one for probably 1.5 years. It’s great! She reads every night – sometimes Libby books, but she finds a lot on Amazon kids that she likes. She’s been reading Harry Potter and is on #4, which is when they really start to get long, so it’s great she can just hold a small Kindle instead of a huge book.
- Love love love! My kids loved them so much I bought one for me one for my husband. It was a lifesaver in coved when the libraries were closed. Then still a lifesaver because my kids don’t have phones or iPads!
- It actually helped my oldest transition into more in depth stories. She is really fast early reader. Every time I would suggest a book she would look at how big it was and the small text and get overwhelmed and not even try. The Kindle helped with that tremendously! Now I can’t get her to stop reading lol. I had to set a time limit on the Kindle because she was staying up too late to read!
- My 10 year old saved up and bought her own Kindle a few months ago. She LOVES it! She’s reading constantly! One of the best things for her!
