Tablet recommendations for nearly 3 year old

I wouldn't get a 3yr old a tablet.

The Amazon ones are shit but they are cheap enough that you can sort of make peace with it. Both of mine have them and they are usable for what we need.

We do a lot of travelling and driving holidays so they are just part of all the other stuff like the sticker books, audiobooks, eye spy. They kind of just rotate through stuff and go back and forth with things.

They have free access to them at home but rarely play them, but that’s against the MN brain rot narrative

Feel free to give them the tablet - I’m sure the researchers are probably incorrect about the impact on brain development. It’s incredibly unlikely that you will also use it when you’re out to dinner and then when you get in from work so you can sit and have a cup of tea…. And just in the pushchair while you wizz around the shops.

As another poster said, my biggest regret was introducing a tablet. I said we'd only use it for travelling too...

Worked for mine when she was that age for the odd occasion she had one 🤷🏻‍♀️

Does your 3 year old sit and listen to stories for several hours at a time?

I assume the same people who think allowing a child to watch a cartoon on a flight (rather than the close-to-god activity of colouring in), will be the same ones complaining when children are loud or unsettled.

I’ve travelled a lot with my kids. I have a bsg of toys etc. Sometimes they lose interest and yes watching w bit of peppa pig or whatever gives them something to do.

You’d think you were injecting heroin into their eyeballs. Occasional use of a tablet or viewing a screen isn’t going to ruin them. If anything teaching them about how to manage it is probably better given the ubiquity.

Also ‘what would you have done 50 years ago’ - it’s 2026, what was the norm 50 years ago is irrelevant. Although - I can tell you me and my siblings relished hours of uninterrupted play on our game boys in the 90s on flights, I used to take a sleeve of spare batteries.

I’m not sure what 50 years ago has to do with it. In my family nobody would have been on a plane or taking the kinds of long journeys we do now.

My child watching The Gruffalo on a tablet a few times a year while travelling isn’t going to damage him for life. Parents can own a tablet for their children and still show restraint in how it’s used. We actually bought it because his school told us to download a phonics app to use over the summer and my very old iPad stopped working.

Ours comes out on long journeys and is used for about a third of the journey. We have zero screen time five days a week and tablet use roughly once every three months. I genuinely don’t see any harm in that level of use. Balance works well for us!

A 3 year old doesn't need a tablet.

We have an Amazon kids kindle fire that I bought as back up ahead of flying alone with almost 2 year old DS but in the end I never got it out of the bag. Lots of other little toys and snacks and looking out of the window got us through just fine (caveat: it was only a 2 hour flight).

Yeah, this won’t work with more spirited children😂 (especially 2yos).

The physical separation actually sends a clearer message and pp makes a good point.

IMO what’s more important than tablet vs no tablet is what they do on it. Watching low stimulation, good quality shows downloaded on iPlayer is honestly fine. A cheap fire tablet will do they’ll job although they are crap.

Personally, I don’t allow tablets as the fixation on the screen leads to wee/poo accidents and generally not keen, but not the end go the world.

I completely agree. It’s a holiday, not every day. Airports and travel can be stressful, holidays cost a lot of money and I’d much prefer to start it off with happy children and parents. I don’t think children watching something on the iPad for a few hours whilst the parents read, enjoy a drink and snacks of their choice and having some downtime negates the rest of the holiday where you are constantly interacting with your children.

Plenty of 2 year olds just watch cartoons on tablets. Plenty of people don't regulate it.
I can't really see the point in getting a tablet for a flight if the kid is only going to be allowed use it for ten mins.

This 100%.

A little bag of toys including some colouring bits will keep them entertained for the flight. This is what I used to do with my children, even on long haul flights and it worked just fine.

Put off giving your children screens for as many years as possible.

My recommendation would be please don’t!!
3 years olds attention span and concentration is being shot to pieces by tablets!!
A little bag with new little toys, fidget toys, snap, books, colouring, even a little pot of playdough would be much better for them.

I’m not sure what age children all the people responding here have, but I am sure that if you ask the opinion of ANY of the parents of late teenagers in my demographic, 100% of them would tell you to delay as long as you possibly can.

We use our iPad for our 4/5yr old. They only have it on the plane, we’ve never used it anywhere else. They’re so excited about watching Octonauts and they tell me all about the sea creatures and animals (they know more facts about them than I do). It makes plane journeys a delight for everyone. They’ve not asked for it anywhere else, we go out for long dinners and lunches and they’re engaged and chatty (no need for toys or crafts).

Personally I don’t see an issue as it works well for our family. As long as you have headphones, I’m not really sure what business it is of anyone else. Just do what works for you and your child. Yes, people didn’t use them years ago, but I’m not sure the behaviour of children on planes was any better without them!

I tried the Amazon fire brand but found it quite limited so I bought DS an iPad mini when he was about that age and downloaded various educational apps and games on it and played them with him.

He was reading fluently and had excellent basic number skills before starting Primary school and despite what some people think, having tech at a young age has been incredibly beneficial, especially as he has been diagnosed with autism in his teens.

I think there’s a happy middle ground here. Your child’s brain won’t fall out its ears if you use a tablet occasionally when travelling.

Personally I’d draw the line at getting them their own tablet. My son watches films on our iPad when travelling but he very rarely watches it at home and we also limit TV.

I really really tried to avoid the iPad travelling - I did all the sticker books and fidget toys and a drawing pad and all of that but they just didn’t hold his attention long, he’s just a really active kid and, with the exception of watching something, he doesn’t do sitting down focusing unless it’s after activity. Also it’s my holiday too - sometimes it’s nice to be able to read my kindle or nap on a flight 🤷🏻‍♀️

His brain appear to be doing ok. And we’re currently doing no TV except for Friday film nights and he’s been out riding his bike after nursery for three nights in a row.

I just wouldnt even go down that route. We've taken ours away 6 times and never used one. We pack toys, colouring books, games, snack boxes etc. The problem isn't watching things, it's that once you've opened the door to devices its going to be hard to go back again. If the flight is longer haul, they'll have screens in the back of the seats. If short haul, you can probably manage with above suggestions. Failing that if you do choose to get a device, headphones are a must.

Well, 40 years ago, we listened to the same tapes over and over, and threw up into tupperware.

These days my kids listen to something they're actually interested in (as do I, since they can watch their own thing - although I do sometimes earwig on my elder child's stuff as he listens to some very interesting you-tubers) and have travel sickness tablets (I could never swallow them when I was a child).

None

Of course you know every parent ever can’t enforce limits 🙄

I wish I’d never given mine a screen at that age. Nightmare to regulate. Sticker books, colouring, simple card games. Picture books. Travel games.

incredibly lazy parenting

ROFL - tell me you don't keep the tablet locked down, monitor what they're watching, engage them in conversation about it, play games with them on it without telling me huh!

Anyone who thinks that a 2 year old will just be 'watching cartoons' on their tablet just hasn't put any effort into their 2 year-old's tablet.