My wife and I recently gave our 4-year-old son a choice: Keep all those junk toys our families had flooded him with over Christmas (and which we barely have room for), or take most of that crap back and use the money to buy a tablet he can play with on our long road trips.

He took the tablet. Smart kid.

After researching which kid-friendly tablets people recommend, we ended up getting the kids edition of Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Ours is the blue one linked there, but the tablet also comes in pink and green.

I gotta say, as much of an iPad fanboy I am, this Fire tablet has been a good value so far. For $100, here’s what you get:

• 7″ Kindle Fire without sponsored lockscreens: Normally $65. The tablet comes with a “kid mode” built in, but is fully functional as a normal Kindle Fire by switching profiles.
• Kid-proof case: Normally $25. We haven’t had any major drops yet, but the thing does feel sturdy.
• 2-year worry-free guarantee: Normally an $18 Kindle Fire add-on. If the kid breaks the tablet, you can return it and Amazon will replace it for free, no questions asked.
• 1 year of Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited service: This is my favorite part. For one year the tablet gets free, unlimited access to 10,000 kid-friendly books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games from companies like Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, and more. After that, it’s just $5/month (or $3/month with Amazon Prime), which we’d happily pay for.

My only qualms: The OS is a little weird for my tastes (I’m spoiled by iOS I guess), and we have to reboot the device from time to time when it freezes.

Overall though, we like this little tablet, and our son loves it. He can download, watch, or read pretty much anything he wants without us having to hover over his shoulder, and let’s be completely honest here: Mommy and I get a little quiet time in the car, or when we both have work to do at home.

Get the Kindle Fire kids edition for $100 on Amazon.