Help my children are getting Kindle Fires for Christmas

[M&M]

My father is giving Kindle Fires to my three younger children. I really have no idea what to do once they get here. Please help...

 

Do they need cases?

Do I need to link them to their own account and do we need prime.

Will I be able to really use these for school?

Is is hard to use the whisper sync ?

I can do something with PDF files?

 

Have I forgotten anything? Thanks!!

[Guest faeriechica]

Yes for a case. 

 

You can link them to your Amazon account and then send individual books to each Kindle as you'd prefer. So Kid1 Kindle, Kid2 Kindle, etc, from the Manage Your Kindle page, then send each book. 

 

Yes! There are tons of free public domain books available, plus most books you'd be purchasing are 25-30% cheaper for Kindle. 

 

Whispersync works automatically and keeps the book synced between Kindle app for PC, phone, and Kindle itself. It's basically a bookmark so you don't lose your place and can read from any device. 

 

Each Kindle has it's own email address, issued by Amazon. You can send PDF files to the Kindle using email, then access on the Kindle. My old-style Kindle has a rather small font for pdfs -- not sure about hte Kindle fire. 

 

To my understanding, the Kindle Fire is more like a tablet, with apps, parental control, etc. -- may be better for kids than a regular tablet. 

 

Prime allows you to borrow one book per account per month from a library of Kindle books curated by Amazon. They've also added a new feature that lets you choose, each month, from four novels to read before they're actually released to the public, again for free. It's $75.00 per year, but I've found that it's well worth it between the streaming features and the borrowing books. YMMV. 

 

 

[happypamama]

We don't have Prime, but we do use the Kindle app on the iPad. Check your libraries; they may have e-books for the Kindle. Also, you can get a membership to the Free Library of Philadelphia for $50 a year (free for PA residents), and they have tons of e-books. We use a lot of e-books, and I rarely have to buy any. A lot of curricula comes in e-form now, and it's cheaper and often easier that way. The Kindle can do PDFs too, although I don't know what program you would use to annotate them (I use Notability, but I don't know that it runs for the Kindle Fire).

 

Yes to a case. I like having a screen protector on the iPad as well. Yes, we use it for school a lot, so I think the Fire will be helpful too (I have considered one of those to be a second tablet, since my kids use my iPad a lot).

 

I have used the Whispersync on both the iPad and DD's cheapie (non-tablet) Kindle -- it's super easy, and when I open a book, the machine pops up with "Do you want to sync this and go to the farthest point read?" One of the nicest features, IMO.

[Calm37]

It would be nice if you could open them before the kids get them and get them set up the way you want and charge. That way the kids can use them right away. You might download a few free game apps. Just search on Amazon for the Top 100 Free.

 

We have never used a screen saver on our Fires, but we do have cases. You might want different colors for each kid's Kindle. We just have the cheap Walmart ones, but be sure they have a band to keep the cases closed.

 

Be aware that the apps drain the battery fairly quickly. We keep a charger plugged in a certain place and there is one on it all the time. 

 

I haven't found reading PDF's on the Fire to be all that exciting. I would try it before making plans to use them for school and see what you think.

[M&M]

If I want to use Whispersync do I need an Audible account ? Do I need a prime account as well? What are the advantages of having Prime.

 

I appreciate all the help!

[MotherOfBoys]

I just got my kindle and my lovely librarian just told me about www.gutenberg.org where I can download tons of books for free! I just got 13 books yesterday and 6 the day before that! Almost all the classics in the well educated mind book.

 

I don't let my kids use my kindle yet. There are a lot of ads on it. I don't want them clicking to buy something or just whining about the toy on the ad that I wont buy them. They have a nabi and the other is getting a $40 door buster tablet for Christmas.

[librarymama]

You don't need prime or audible for whispersync. It will connect wirelessly to your amazon account to access your books and apps (and bookmarks, notes, etc) and sync.

 

I use Freetime, a free amazon app of parental controls for the kindle. You can set limits on apps and block the web or purchasing. It's awesome. Super kid friendly. I lock my son's kindle down tightly.

[tjdan]

I second the use of Freetime.  It's a free app that comes with Kindle Fire that creates a "world within the Kindle" for the kids.  And you can set up different accounts for each of your children on one Kindle if you need to.  So you can load individual books, games etc into Freetime, and they can play, read, have fun without being able to get out to the net or buy things! 2 favorite apps of my ds- Stack the States, Stack the Countries.  And Where's my Water.  If you get the Kindle Freetime subscription (couple bucks a month), there's a huge library of books, games, videos, apps, for the kids to use in the Freetime "world".  Otherwise, Freetime is just what you load into it (kind of like Prime vs. just an Amazon account).  Usefulness of Freetime subscription probably depends on the age/interests of kids- based on the ages in your signature, they  may be a little old for the books in the subscription (lots of character stuff and little kid stuff, but some good elementary books). All the Fire stuff comes over your home wifi.  My ds uses a thin lightweight gel/silicone case, not one of the big ones or folder-type ones.  Really depends on how your kids handle electronics or use them.  We went with the super-lightweight since any case adds weight and bulk to the fire.  We use it for school when there's a book we can download vs use in paperback- way less space taken up!  We have Amazon prime because there's so many great videos, like all the History Channel videos we use to add "fun" to what we're learning.