Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen, 2022 release) Kids | Designed for kids, with parental controls | Owl

We love our Alexa
The owl design of the Alexa speaker is absolutely charming and a delightful addition to any room. Its whimsical look makes it especially appealing for kids’ rooms or as a fun decorative piece. Beyond the design, it functions just as well as any other Alexa device, providing all the usual smart assistant features like controlling smart home devices, playing music, setting reminders, and answering questions. The sound quality is surprisingly good for its size, and the owl theme adds a playful touch that makes interacting with Alexa more enjoyable. It’s both functional and fun, making it a great purchase!

It’s just cute!
My old Echo dot was, well, old… It was beginning to lisp! I decided it was time to buy a new one since I use it to read books. I bought this one, even though it’s made for kids. You can use it without the kid stuff. It works just like a regular dot. Owls are my favorite, so this is perfect for me.Also, the speaker is really great for music. Much better bass and treble control. Perfect!

Surprisingly loud speaker and fun theme
I just recently purchased this for my son’s 6th birthday to help him have an option for audiobooks, alarm clock, and listening to music and he LOVES it! He greets Alexa every time he gets home and says goodnight to her and gets a bedtime story from her while he waits for me to come read to him and tuck him in. We have successfully added a few Alexa skills (including Big Fart which MAY have been a mistake on my part) and so far they seem to work pretty well.Pros:- Cute dragon theme and image (Alexa introduces herself and says she likes to pretend she is a dragon and has a kid-friendly voice character)- Optional additional Dragon Egg Cradle (have not personally purchased yet but am tempted)- Great resource to allow kids access to audiobooks and learning materials with parental controls through the parent dashboard- 1 year free subscription to Amazon Kids+ which is a great deal if you have an amazon kids tablet already (same price as you already pay for a year and an echo dot? Yes please!)- An avenue for little ones to ask some of their random questions to someone other than overloaded parents- Many cool Alexa skills from independent companies (Math practice games? Yes! Talk to Pikachu? Yes!)- Alarm clock, speaker, nightlight and more in one!Cons:- Alexa can sometimes get very confused. This can be frustrating for anyone, but especially for little ones with little tolerance for the pitfalls of technology. Sometimes she doesn’t hear you correctly and says she can’t do something they know she can do. Sometimes she starts playing music while doing another skill and the speaker just can’t take it. Sometimes she just plain doesn’t listen the first 10 times you try and ask. It’s…….. frustrating and stressful when this happens to say the least. Teach your little one how to reset Alexa if this happens so they can feel in control instead of having a meltdown or running out screaming over her.- Not all of the Alexa skills work quite how they are meant to and will totally mess Alexa up and require a reset and removal of the skill entirely.- Alexa has very specific commands and these can be hard to remember sometimes. Consider writing out or typing up a list of the most common commands for little ones to help them remember the right order of words.- The Echo dot can get surprisingly loud and when you ask Alexa to turn down the volume it is in very small increments so you will need to do it manually if they have somehow turned it up to blasting.- After Alexa’s bedtime has hit she will not respond to any commands or be able to use any skills. This includes asking her to stop playing something she already was, using a nightlight skill, or setting an alarm. The only option you have after her off time is to manually reset it so she goes quiet. The timer options are awesome tools to keep little ones from turning her on and playing with her instead of going to bed, but does restrict some of the bedtime options you could have like the nightlight.Overall, we have loved our experience with this product so far and it has only been in use for about a week (but pretty constantly). We’ll see how this holds up over time!

My kids love this!
We love our boys Amazon Kids Tablet, but we added this device to their room and we are already impressed. Some of the features includes playing music, answering questions, reading books/podcasts and a customizable alarm, made just for kids. My child is 4 years old and was able to successfully ask it to perform multiple functions. My favorite feature is the intercom like function, I can call them from the Echo device in my room or phone to communicate. Super easy to use and set up. It fits in the size of your hand and can be moved or taken with you with ease. Can be controlled via buttons on the device or through the app. 10/10 from us!! Check it out for yourself!