Ok. We are diving into the world of tablets for Christmas. We have grown tired of wasted piles of paper because she messed up and commandeering our phones to browse coloring pages until she finds just the right one 20 minutes later and we end up with hundreds of photos on our phones from her vantage point. We were going to get her some kind of kid camera and a drawing device but figured why not combine them.

It will only be used for drawing (and printing what she draws), taking pictures, and finding coloring pages to print. Browser must be locked down, need a passcode to open for finding coloring pages. And the only other apps that can be opened are whatever drawing app we go with and the camera. I'm sure we'll find other use cases we approve of but for now that's it. Must be decent sized since it will primarily be for drawing. The cheaper the better but should be reliable. Camera quality good enough for a 5yo. Memory that supports her photography and drawing habits. Does this exist? What do I need to know? I haven't owned a tablet in ages.

An Amazon tablet might work but I'd go with an Android or IPad depending on what phone you already use. The parental controls can manage all the things you want. We use Samsung tablets for our boys and I can control all the app, downloads, hours, etc.

How much do you want to spend? You can get a refurb 9th gen iPad (64gb) or an 8th gen (128gb) for around $200. The 8th gen ipad should get iOS 19 update, so it should still have ~2 full years of support left from Apple.

iPad seems to be consensus from everyone. I was thinking a refurb would be more than 200 so that's good to hear. Thanks!

I've had pretty good luck buying refurbs from Gazelle and Backmarket

Gazelle

Backmarket

Might look at an Apple Pencil too. I got that and procreate for my daughter and she was drawing all kinds of things. Pretty sure you can import coloring sheets too, but it's been a bit since I've looked at that

BQ2001 said:

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Might look at an Apple Pencil too. I got that and procreate for my daughter and she was drawing all kinds of things. Pretty sure you can import coloring sheets too, but it's been a bit since I've looked at that

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Great idea but make sure the specific iPad supports the pencil; my husband's iPad Air did not.

Ended up snagging a new open box 9th gen 64gb from Best Buy for 199 all in. If all goes well I'll grab AppleCare+ before the 60 days is up.

Is the Apple pencil really going to be worth it for a 5yo? I'm thinking a plain stylus will be good enough, and less painful when inevitably lost. I am pleasantly surprised at the cost of cases and screen protectors.

I think it was, but I get the hesitation. I like the Apple Pencil because you can get an iPad case that it goes in and it charges from the iPad. My daughter list a lot of stuff, but still has that pencil.

They have dupe apple pencils on Amazon for like $15 now. I have yet to buy one but they have great reviews. I would try those out first

Getting the Apple Pencil is also important to help develop fine motor skills. We have an issue with two of our kids where they learned how to use a tablet easily but their fine motor skills are lacking and they are behind now on their handwriting. Getting them used to at least holding the pencil, even if just scribbling in an art app, or even better using something with pressure sensitivity like Procreate, will help a lot down the road.

double aught said:

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Not judging anyone's parenting because I'm guilty too, but an even better option is limiting screens as much as possible.

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I failed miserably in this endeavor. They're teens now and I've at least managed to keep them off of social media.