Which tablets for kids (need to use offline while travelling!)

[ChocolateIsNotSleep]

Hi all, I could do with some help from you wise MNetters please!

We're going away for a big trip with our two DC aged 2 and nearly 4 involving several long haul flights (yes, I know, I am completely out of my mind). So in order to try and save just a little bit of my sanity, we were planning on getting them a little tablet each as my their Christmas present this year so they can play/watch what they want etc without fighting (and I might even get a chance to read some of my kindle..?!)

I've been looking at the Amazon fire for kids and the Dragon touch which both seem excellent in terms of hardware and durability. However, they both seem to have very small storage and to be designed to work online all the time - which isn't very helpful on a 12 hour flight!

Has anyone got either of these? What do you think about using them offline? Does anyone have any other suggestions or recommendations?

T very much IA!

Watching with interest. I have a kindle fire (not the kids version) and it's great for games etc but I used to download episodes from BBC i player before a journey but for some reason that no longer works. Dh reckons it's now incompatible with the software. In any case I'd rather like to be able to use it myself occasionally!

The fire has memory card slot. Can you download stuff to that?

It's £49.99 too & reviews are great

op good points there, I am going for the amazon fire at 49.99 or if they drop the kids package again, maybe that.

Does anyone have the amazon fire?

Thanks all - I saw the older version of the fire (and think the kids is identical to the 'adults' but with a heavy duty case!) had a storage slot but a reviewer noted it didn't work unless on a network connection I.e. bleeding useless! Not sure if that issue has been resolved in the new version or not, I couldn't find reference to it in the description. Hmm may have to email Amazon and ask.
Yes reviews are really good and there are good parental controls which I liked.
Also interested to hear from anyone who has one!

I have one. You definitely don't need a network connection to do most things you'd expect to be able to do offline (games etc) But downloading things (films etc) on to it isn't easy and the download option on BBC iplayer no longer seems to work.

I have a nook hd which is really good, sd card slot so ok in terms of storage etc.
I tend to download films or the cbeebies apps/other games which all work offline.
I believe that in August the I player app changed so that you need a certain level of android software to download programmes, which is really annoying.

Thanks curtains, I'll take a look at the nook, not come across one of those before! Shame about iplayer - wish they'd stop messing about with it! Was thinking of putting some films on for the kids like frozen, toy story etc (DD1 has just got into toy story in a big way!). Not sure how much room they'd need especially with apps as well. I'm taking a laptop so can take other stuff and change it over I suppose - just need to make sure there's enough content to keep them reasonably occupied on the plane, especially if they can't/won't sleep please please God let them sleep lots!

longestlurker do you have an SD card for it? Am still confused! V tempted by the 2 year no quibble warranty (surely at least one tablet isn't going to make it back in one piece!) and the price for a proper tablet - its just the storage issue! Wish they made one with 16gb!

Chocolate, I was wondering which tablet to get for DD and was also thinking of a Kindle Fire. Did think about Apple mini 2 but at over £200 I would be really pissed off if she dropped it or if it got lost.

As a side, we've just came back from a Florida trip. At the cost of £4 we paid for extra entertainment package with LOADS of channels for kids. Would solve the issue of having to download movies. I'm sure that most airlines will offer the same. What age are your kids?

I don't, no. It's not the storage issue, as I've never run out of storage, more the software. It seems to want you only to buy amazon stuff. Am wondering about a hudl for dd in the hope they would be more flexible but waiting for them to be on offer again. anyone got one?

Well as time is ticking I've bitten the bullet and gone for the fire. Sold mostly on the warranty front to be honest (and price!). I've got an SD card as well for extra storage so will try and download what I can onto it and report back! I saw that Prime members can download some amazon content for off-line use (but oddly not via Freetime?!) so I will see if I can use my prime account to put anything on there too as well as downloading some videos from my computer.
Collection tomorrow so fingers crossed!

timeoff (ha, me too please!), I'm not sure, we're flying singapore airlines so I'm sure there will be some stuff but wasn't sure how well the kids would get on with the seat back screens? They are 2.10 months and 3.9. DD1 would probably get on OK I suppose.

I use just iPad 2 when I need to divert my little cousin, there are a lot of apps/games for kids. He likes Talking Angela (his favorite one, here's the direct link - android.freepps.top/software/my-talking-angela/ , it's free) , Chuggington, Dr.Panda, LegoDuplo, etc.