Why You Can Trust CNET 3 new ways your kids can use Alexa
Alexa can help you kids learn and interact with your smart home.
Amazon has already made Alexa kid-friendly, with games, a simplified language setting that encourages good manners and an Echo Dot built especially for children.
This September, Amazon introduced every more ways for kids to interact with Alexa. Here's what's new.
Routines for Kids
No, your child can't take over your smart home . However, Amazon did announce Routines for Kids. Parents can use this collection of simplified templates to create routines for younger members of the family.
For example, when a child says "Alexa, goodnight," Alexa can say a custom message, turn off lights and start music or sleep sounds. The feature comes to Amazon's Echo Dot Kids Edition.
Podcasts are coming to FreeTime Unlimited
FreeTime Unlimited on Alexa is an Amazon subscription to kid-friendly books, TV shows, music, apps and games on supported devices like Fire tablets , Kindles and iOS or Android devices and of course, the Echo Dot Kids Edition.
Now, Amazon is adding podcasts to the list of available entertainment options. The company specifically mentioned the podcasts Story Pirates and Ear Snacks.
Audiobooks by Audible
If you're looking for a longer read (or listen) for your kids, have no fear. Amazon also announced that by the end of October, the company will have added more than 1,000 Audible audiobooks to the FreeTime Unlimited subscription.
These kid-friendly announcements were just a few of the many, many things announced by Amazon this month. What else was there? Well, whisper mode, for one. That's a feature new parents will likely appreciate more than anyone else.