Review: Kindle Colorsoft Kids

When you set up kids mode, you’ll be prompted to put in your child’s name and their birthday, which allows Amazon to recommend books appropriate for their age. You can make multiple kid profiles, but you’ll need a PIN or passcode to switch off kids mode and return to regular Kindle mode. I set up my son’s profile with his nickname and his birthday, and since he’s only 3 years old, his recommendations in the “Books You Might Like” section were colorful picture books like Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and First 100 Animals. I was able to download both immediately with the Kids+ subscription.

You buy books on a Kindle, but the Kids interface has a Store option that allows your kid to browse books and request them, which will then alert the parent account about the desired book. It replaces the store feature in regular mode that allows you to purchase a book directly. It’s a nice way to still give kids an option to look for a new book and choose it themselves, without giving them free-for-all access to your credit card on file. (But if you were going to give your kids free rein on spending, books are a great place for it.)

An Ideal Pair

Photograph: Nena Farrell

While you can access kids mode on any Kindle, a Colorsoft certainly feels like a great fit for kids of all ages. Colorful covers and pages are a great way to entice kids to read, and it’s certainly much more fun to look at a library of books on a Colorsoft model than it is on a black-and-white-only e-reader. The full year of Kids+ content is a great bonus, too.

While upgrading to a color Kindle is a fun option, most of my adult books won’t be able to take advantage. Kids have more illustrated book options to actually take advantage of the color feature, and it’s a nice choice for developing readers who might lean on art more to understand a book.

You’ll pay quite a bit more for this Kindle than the other Kids options, but it’s an e-reader that can grow with your kid and take them through all kinds of phases of reading. Plus, it’s a Kindle you can borrow from them to get a little color for your books, even if it’s just the covers.