Our favourite family apps from the Amazon Appstore

We’ve been trying out the new Amazon Fire Tablet 7; here are our favourite apps we’ve found so far on the Amazon Appstore.

Summer is here, the first year of school is nearly over and while, obviously, we are going to be dedicating our holiday to wholesome outdoorsy pursuits and educational activities *ahem* I’m sure we’re all going to have some well-deserved tablet time. Especially during long holiday journeys and on those early starts which are two opportunities when tablets come in really handy.

Eliza has had the children’s version of the Fire Tablet for a while now and it has been brilliant, robustly surviving many a sticky handprint and drop on the floor. However, she loves it so much she’s never let me use it.

So I was pretty thrilled to be sent the new Amazon Fire Tablet 7 to finally get a go.

The Amazon Fire 7 tablet is the latest model of the Fire and now comes with Amazon Alexa (already a firm favourite in this house, especially when it comes to kitchen discos). The small and light design of the tablet means it’s very portable for holidays and also really easy for to children to use and carry.

It’s pretty cheap compared to other tablets too – priced at around £49.99 – and the version we were sent is a brilliant shade of yellow.

E has always used the Appstore to pick and download her own apps and I’ve been impressed with how easy it is to use. To test out the new Fire 7 tablet and we’ve been trying out a range of Appstore apps (there are thousands, both paid and free, across entertainment, gaming and education).

So here are our favourite family-focused apps from the Amazon app store for children and parents that we’ve found so far.

Our favourite apps for toddlers and pre-schoolers:

BBC Kids: For those early mornings that start before even CBeebies is on, this is the child-friendly version of iPlayer, for watching Topsy and Tim and all of these.

CBeebies Playtime: All hail the mighty CBeebies; even brilliant in app form.

Peppa Pig Paint:  There’s a couple of Peppa Pig apps on the Amazon Appstore and they’re all good for this age. F has however taken a fancy to the Paint app, where you can draw and paint on screen to your heart’s content (and no clearing up after).

Our favourite apps for schoolchildren:

Netflix: For watching all the weird things children love at this age (does anyone else’s five-year-old like Glitter Force? Or Power Ranger Dino Charge?!)

TocaLife: Hospital, TocaLife: Vacation and any and all of the Toca Boca apps: Do you know about Toca Boca apps? If not, download them now! These are E’s favourite apps by a long way and are the ones she comes back to every time. They have all been designed with a child-led focus on an unrestricted play and fun, which comes across brilliantly.

My favourite apps for grown-ups:

Pinterest: Pinterest is my favourite waste of time – it’s brilliant for parenting advice as well as interiors projects and general all-round pretty things (follow me on Pinterest here).

Kindle Books: OK, hands up, I’ve still not done this, still, but the size of the Fire 7 tablet means it’s really easy to read in bed so I have no excuse, really. Especially on holiday. Has anyone read any good books recently?

Instagram: My final favourite app from the Amazon Appstore…and another favourite way to waste time. P.S. I’m still trying with Instagram Stories…follow me here.

I’ve found that one of the best things about the Fire from a parenting point of view is the parental controls – once you have apps you can set limits on access and the amount of screen time they can use per day and when they can and can’t use it.

Which is good as my two-year-old now somehow thinks it’s hers…

Do you have any favourites apps? I’d love to hear any new suggestions, especially for children. Or grown-ups, because this tablet is all for me. Really.

Thanks to Amazon Appstore for working with us on this post…read more posts on our current favourite children’s books and signs you’re a mum in summer.