The 4 best kids’ tablets for travel and more

The Samsung Galaxy tablet comes pre-loaded with Samsung Kids, a library of books, videos, and games that have been pre-screened for appropriateness and kid-friendliness. It also helps you set parental controls and screen time limits. The tablet comes in 3 colors. Parents love the long battery life and affordable price tag!

Every momfluencer you follow seems to have one (or two, or three) of these tablets for their kids, but there’s a good reason: they’re kind of kid-perfect. They’re a reasonable price, they’re excellent for streaming or downloading movies and shows, they’re lightweight and durable, and Amazon Kids offers parental controls and an optional subscription for vetted content. Plus it’s compatible with Alexa devices if you already have one. (And bonus! If it breaks they’ll replace it for free.) The Fire 10 is the most up-to-date version, but if you want to save $90, the Fire 8 Pro is still a great option. It’s smaller and slower but still a powerhouse!

My kids tend to inherit out-of-date iPads, and it’s hard to deny how useful they are. This 9th generation iPad is a little pricier than other tablets, but still much less expensive than a brand-new model. The operating system is a cinch (since you probably already know it well) and it’s easy to set up a profile for your kids and enact parental controls. Especially for older kids who game, the speed of an iPad is pretty much unbeatable. 

The Google tablet is the priciest one on this list, but it can do a lot: for one thing it has tons of storage at 128GB, perfect for downloading a lot of movies and shows for travel. It also comes with a speaker dock, which is a great feature if multiple kids are watching or listening to the same tablet. While it is more expensive, its capabilities mean you can use it too, and some parents love the ability to share one tablet across generations.