EVERYTHING You Want to Know About the Echo Dot Kids Edition

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The Echo Dot Kids Edition is a staple in our home.  Learn more about what you can do with this nifty smart device make for kids.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Amazon as part of an Ambassador Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own

Why We Chose the Echo Dot Kids Edition

We have always been Amazon fans.  When we first were introduced to their smart devices we were sold because of how easy they were to use.  We have their tablets, their speaker systems, fire sticks, we probably own stock in their Prime membership and I can’t fathom life without our Echo family of products.  It was a no brainer when our kids asked for Echo’s of their very own to purchase the Echo Dot Kids Editions.

Our kids are constantly talking to our main Echo Plus in the kitchen and asking it to play this music, or read the notifications or set timers or tell jokes.  It was almost overwhelming for me and honestly, I wanted them to do those things on their own devices and jam out to Imagine Dragons for the 50,000th time in their own rooms.  I also wanted to be able to have parental controls so it was a simple choice, the Echo Dot Kids Edition was the smart device for our kids.

Setting up the Echo Dot Kids Edition

After Christmas a bunch of our friends purchased smart devices for their kids.  Some purchased the Echo Dot Kids Edition and others purchased a competitor. I saw one friend say she was getting rid of the competitors device already because setting it up was a huge pain.  The Echo Dot Kids Edition was the easiest device to set up ever!  Just download the Amazon Alexa app, click on devices, click on the plus sign in the corner and follow the prompts to add a device.

For the Echo Dot Kids Edition, plug it in and then  just select the Amazon Echo, then the Echo Dot Kids Edition and the app will take you through set up. Your Echo Dot Kids Edition will light up and you will connect to wifi and set up all the features that you want…including parental controls.

You can also set up Amazon FreeTime which includes Audible kids’ books, kid-friendly music without ads, character alarms,  premium Alexa skills from Disney, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, and more.  It is an additional fee, but well worth it.

Our Favorite Things to do with the Echo Dot Kids Edition

Like I mentioned above, my kids already were in love with the Echo Plus in our kitchen, so they were so ready to have their own in their rooms.  We have several things that we just adore using the Echo Dot Kids Edition for.  Check out our fun list below.

1. Reading: I was really struggling for a while to get my son to complete his nightly reading.  We would set a timer in our kitchen and he would get distracted by everything and everyone.  Now he takes his book up to his room, has Alexa set a timer and he reads for the entire times (and often beyond)!
2. Alarm Clocks: Routines in this house are necessary and my kids are pretty great about it.  Lately they have been using their Echo Dot Kids Edition to set their morning alarm clocks.  “Alexa, set my alarm for 5:40 am”.  I do have to double check it, but it is awesome to see them take initiative.
3. Timers: “You have 5 minutes to get dressed” was often something I would tell them over and over…but we all know that kids and time do not computate.  Now I tell them that and they run up, set their timers and race to get dressed, brush their teeth, clean their rooms or whatever else they need to get done.  Both of them love competing to see who can get done with whatever task they are being asked to complete and they are starting to gauge time a bit better as well.
4. MUSIC: They will go to their rooms, tell Alexa to play whatever song they are wanting to hear and just sing and dance.  My son has even taken to having the Echo Dot Kids Edition play music for him to go to sleep.  It is nice to have my own Echo Plus music choices back and for the kids to still enjoy their music.
5. Weather: One day I walked into my daughters room and she was asking Alexa what temperature it was.  That gave me an idea!  As we set out clothes and shoes for the next day, I told the kids to ask her what the weather was going to be tomorrow and then pick out clothes that fit that temperature!  Now before bed each night they do this and it has made morning and clothing arguments a MILLION times easier!
6. Fun Facts: My son in particular is just fascinated with knowledge and fun facts.  We are still learning a lot about these features, but we can ask her to share facts, tell jokes and more and we will just sit there laughing, sometimes calling grandma to share everything we know now!  Super fun.
7. Education: We recently realized that we could work on spelling words, math skills and audible books with our Echo Dot Kids Edition.
8. Notifications: If the kids are in their rooms, instead of yelling upstairs, I can connect into their devices to tell them to come down or make a general announcement.  We can also have Alexa read our announcements as well.  The household communications are awesome and something that we are really just starting to enjoy.

Built For Kids

Not only do we love all that the Echo Dot Kids Edition has to offer, but we love that it was built for kids.  It is kid-friendly, has parental controls that are easy to use and allows parents to select which services our kids can access.  We can turn off voice purchasing (and we did), communicate with our kids from other rooms, use it for educational purposes and it is durable with a great little case to protect it from kids being kids. A big bonus for us was that the Echo Dot Kids Edition came with a whole year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited and a 2-year worry-free guarantee!

“Alexa”

Often times we get asked what is Alexa and how does it work and why is is better than the competitor? Alexa is the brain of the Echo family of products by Amazon.  Interacting with Alexa is very easy; just ask a question and she will respond instantly.  The idea is for her to make life easier and in our experience Alexa has done just that.  We feel like Alexa is the best because of the convenience that it brings.

We love our Echo Plus and Echo Dot Kids Edition with Alexa because it is so convenient. We are moving to a smart home slowly and being able to control devices, lights, ask questions and more really makes living in this digitally advanced society so much easier. I love having music streaming through our home, inspiring us to move, laugh, enjoy and really use our home to its fullest potential.  Alexa is part of our family.

Have you purchased the Echo Dot Kids Edition yet?

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