Before you buy your child's first tablet, here's what you need to know about Amazon's kid-friendly line.

Amazon's Fire HD tablet series offers one of the most streamlined experiences for enjoying popular content. It's ideal for accessing the Prime Video catalog, for instance, but it's not limited to just Amazon apps. It also works perfectly with some of the most entertaining streaming services, including Netflix and Disney+. But, even in 2022, the internet is a wild place. You probably don't want your kids having unfettered access to the World Wide Web until they're old enough to make safe and healthy decisions for themselves.

Enter the Amazon Fire HD Kids lineup, which ties into the Amazon Kids parental controls and content subscription service while streamlining the tablet experience for kids and parents alike. But with Kids and Kids Pro models available for the Fire HD 8 and 10, it can be tough to decide which version is better for your child and how much hand-holding their digital experience needs. We're here to help take the guesswork out of the equation.

There are 7-, 8-, and 10-inch Fire Kids tablets, and they're identical to the standard versions in terms of hardware. They're equipped with perfectly fitted, highly durable cases, an understandable feature on any high-tech gadget you plan on handing to a 6-year-old.

In case your young ones are able to overcome the rugged exterior and damage the device, both the Kids and Kids Plus tablets also come with what Amazon terms a "worry-free warranty." Unlike most warranties, it does cover replacement or repair due to user damage, at least once.

A key feature of both versions is the included 1-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, which offers a huge amount of child-friendly content. And while everybody loves cartoons, the Kids+ service isn't limited to watching TV and movies. It sports a wide variety of fun, educational games as well as plenty of ebooks for relaxation and learning.

But arguably the biggest asset of Kids+ is the in-depth parental controls it offers. You can restrict or whitelist individual websites and apps and even set timers that limit daily screen time. It's a powerful tool for parents who want to take advantage of a little "digital babysitting" action without unwittingly enabling a screen addiction in young kids. While most of the parental controls are available even without the subscription, Kids+ allows for more granular controls and more in-depth reports on what your kid is showing interest in or which subjects they may need more time with.

The thick, rugged, internally padded case on the Fire HD 8 Kids and Fire HD 10 Kids is about as dependable as they get. It's resistant to the spills that kids inevitably cause, and they'd have to be awfully dedicated to damage it in any other way.

The limitations of the Fire HD Kids tablets are also their selling points. Instead of unrestricted access to the internet, the original Fire HD Kids lets youngsters access a selection of carefully curated websites via a specially designed, proprietary browser. Caregivers are readily able to add additional websites or block any that are already approved using a simple browser option. In other words, if you want to disable common search websites like Google, it's no problem to do so. Parents can even turn off browser access entirely, limiting use to locally installed apps.

It's also worth noting that Amazon continually manages this handpicked website selection, adding new sites that meet specific kid-friendly criteria and removing ones that are no longer suitable for young users.

The main user's profile on the base model Fire HD Kids — that is, your kid's profile — doesn't have access to Amazon's digital app store. As the curator of your child's online experience, it's your job to manage what apps they use. There's a tightly controlled list of available apps, and there really are quite a few to choose from, with more always in development.

Internally, both Fire HD Kids Pro tablets are identical to their standard Kids counterparts. The differences are twofold: the case and the software.

While there's nothing majorly wrong with the original Fire HD Kids case — especially from the perspective of the child using it — older kids will probably be put off by the remarkably bulky case. To make the experience more palatable to tweens and early teens, the Kids Pro comes with a much sleeker case (with a kickstand) that's nearly as rugged as the base version but looks a lot cooler. It also comes in a number of fun, flashy, colorful patterns.

The biggest enhancement to the Kids Pro is the expanded content library. In combination with the parental controls, you can even give your youngsters permission to stream PG-13 movies. There's also a digital store with a list of available apps for the user to browse. Kids can't actually install anything without the caregiver's permission, though; they simply make a request using the digital store, and it's up to the parent to approve or deny it.

Along with the standard Fire 7 tablet, it's the newest release in Amazon's tablet lineup. Its hardware is similar to the rest, although it does offer the choice of 16 or 32 GB of internal storage. If you're worried about the 8-inch Fire HD Kids being a bit too large for small hands, the Fire 7 Kids is more manageable. However, it's a bit too small to take advantage of some apps, the resolution isn't great, and the low 2 GB of system memory leads to a less-than-perfect experience.

Nonetheless, it's a good option for the youngest kids and can easily last for a few years until it's time to upgrade. Part of the reason for this is its new and improved Fire OS 8 operating system, which is the first based on Android 11 (whereas Fire OS 7 was built on top of Android 9).

As of June 2022, there is no Kids Pro version of Amazon's newest 7-inch Fire Kids tablet. For that matter, it's unlikely there will be. Of course, nothing says you can't buy the regular Fire 7 and slap your own kidproof case on it alongside the Kids+ software, which is available on Android, iOS, and regular Fire tablets through the Amazon Kids+ app.

The right answer pretty much boils down to how old your child is. Amazon recommends the Fire HD Kids for ages 3 to 7 and the Kids Pro for ages 6 to 12. Also, note that owners of existing Fire HD Kids tablets can get a 20% discount when upgrading to a new model.

Ultimately, most young children are best served with an 8-inch Fire HD Kids, although the brand-new Fire HD 7 is a solid choice, too. If your child is approaching the edge of the recommended 3-to-7-year-old range, consider upgrading to the Pro.

If your young one is already 7 years or older, and you love the streamlined experience and parental controls the lineup offers, the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the right choice.

Chris started breaking computers decades ago in his dad's basement while seeing how fast an Intel 486 processor could go. Since those days, he's destroyed considerably less computing equipment (but not zero).