Tablet recommendations for nearly 3 year old

[snoringnights]

Looking for recommendations of a tablet/ipad style for my nearly 3 year old? Going on holiday soon, first time on aeroplane and looking for something to help keep him entertained on the plane. ideally something I can download Netflix etc onto for films?

thanks

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

A 3 year old doesn't need a tablet.

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!

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Oh and DD1 can bring her Switch now which is good, many impressive Minecraft creations have been made on a 6-hour car journey!

None of your 6 flights were with the budget airlines, then! 😄

Another one who just wouldn't introduce a tablet at that age. Short flights are perfectly manageable with colouring, books, chatting etc. Long haul they'll have a seat back TV. My kids are almost 8 and 3 and we travel and lot, they are fine without a tablet.

Far too young for screens

Nooo! Don't do it! They are so addictive. Lots of other good suggestions here. There'll be a kids channel on the aeroplane screens you can use.

None

I’ve taken my kids (8 and 5 now) on lots of flights and very long car journeys and never needed a tablet. They love their yoto players and otherwise we read them stories or entertained them. Harder work for us for sure but I’m pleased because they don’t default to screens, have a good attention span, and my 8yo will now read to entertain himself whereas his friends are just glued to their screens.

I totally get and agree that there’s nothing wrong with occasional use but unfortunately the reality is that for most families it very quickly stops being occasional use because it’s so effective at keeping kids quiet and happy. Just on flights becomes just on flight and car journeys. And meals out. And when parents are a bit tired or need to get jobs done. And on special occasions. And when kids are tired. And when kids have whined for it incessantly. I’ve seen it happen with almost every child I know. And the younger siblings don’t stand a chance because they have access essentially from birth. My 2yo niece rejects picture books in favour of swiping at her mum’s phone.

I would think seriously about introducing it for such a young child and if you do go ahead then decide on the boundaries up front.

As for the phonics app @Millie2790 - all the evidence shows that these are terrible for learning. The best way of teaching a child to read is with actual books. Not your fault obviously but the school can’t make you use screens (and shouldn’t try imo) - your child won’t fall behind if you don’t use it.

We have very low screen use for our toddler, but I have no scruples at all about him using our tablet during a 4h flight or train journey.

He hasn't ever asked for it outside of the 5-6 times he's used it over the past year, and most days he has zero screens.

It's not a disaster to use one when you're trapped in a metal tube for hours.

I agree
too young for all this screen time!