Tablets for kids, screen time, parental controls

[Hilltopmom]

I want to replace our first Gen iPads with newer tablets that have a parental controlled screen time option. My little kids watch youtubeKids videos and play offline little kids games that have been downloaded. Some Netflix streaming too.

What tablets do you recommend? Does not have to be iPad, but similar, I suppose. Main thing I want is the ability to set screen time limits that are lockable & limit access to other apps or websites. 
Basically I want it to restrict access to everything after a certain daily time amount without me needing to keep track of on and off usage through the day.

Recommendations? Thanks!

eta- I know about the Circle device but they play lots of offline games so just cutting off the WiFi would not help.

the screen time apps don’t install on the oldest iPads and they don’t have screen time settings like be Apple devices 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Hilltopmom

[Katy]

Well I can say I don't recommend Kindle Fires.  The kids app is OK, but the the hardware is a pain.  I gave my toddlers tablets a few weeks ago in a crisis, and now they get a few hours with them daily.  DS3 already had an iPad because a therapist recommended it for his medical issue, he just rarely used it except for that therapy. But DD2 didn't have one so I bought her a Kid's Kindle deal at Amazon.  The software is great and has the controls you want, but the hardware is AWFUL and we got the upgraded, newest, most expensive option.  I have to restart it for her at least once in 45-60 minutes, sometimes twice.  I've had to hard boot it twice in the past few weeks.  It's constantly disconnecting from the internet.  She likes watching bouncy videos like Cocomelon and DS likes playing a car game on her tablet, so they frequently trade.

[Ausmumof3]

We have family link on ours.  You can set an overall screen time limit not limit specific apps.  However I can see how much time they’ve spent on each.

[Spryte]

We have never been happy with Kindle Fires.  We try, and I thought the kids’ thing would be great, but it just doesn’t work for us.

We use a combo of Apple parental controls and Bark monitoring.  We pay for some kind of family plan so it monitors multiple devices and computers.